


in time i'll get over you

by birthdayblur



Category: Wanna One (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Denial of Feelings, Fluff, M/M, Revenge, but dumb minhyun revenge, daniel roasts seongwoo, jihoon is savage, maknae line roasts minhyun, one-sided hate
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-04
Updated: 2019-04-21
Packaged: 2019-05-02 03:30:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 36,533
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14535678
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/birthdayblur/pseuds/birthdayblur
Summary: I’m going to be nice to you, Ong Seongwoo. I’m going to be so nice, it’ll hurt.Minhyun tries his best to plot revenge against Seongwoo, but things get a bit difficult when there’s a fine line between hate and love, and Seongwoo just keeps going over.





	1. coffee

**Author's Note:**

> dumb and awkward minhyun is the best minhyun. that is all :)

“I said okay!”

“Great. Maybe dating will make you less clingy.”

“Jihoon-ya, I said okay. Why did I say okay?”

Minhyun attacks the younger from behind with a back hug, wailing dramatically. His friend jerks forward, steadying himself before he can slam face-first onto his textbook. Notes are skewed all over the worn-out desk and Jihoon has been re-reading the same paragraph for the last 10 minutes since Minhyun had plodded in, moping.

“Ya! Get off!” Jihoon gasps as he whirls around, trying to unhand Minhyun in a flurry of limbs.

When Minhyun still refuses to let go, having buried his face deeper into Jihoon’s shoulder, Jihoon plops back into the chair with a sigh.

“Hyung, one date can’t hurt, and if it goes bad, it’ll just be another item to the List of Things You Hate About Ong Seongwoo.”

“Maybe, but it’s not like Seongwoo knows I hate him! Don’t I have to act a little interested since I was the one who accepted?”

Jihoon turns around with one eyebrow raised. Minhyun blinks back at him.

“Sure, I guess you can _act_ interested. Seongwoo being the most attractive guy in the _acting_ department and all. Maybe he’ll even be impressed with your 3-year-long one-man show portraying how much you’re so obsessed with him.”

Minhyun lets go in shock, Jihoon taking the opportunity to rub his sore shoulders.

“I’m definitely _not_ obsessed!”

“Then why do we have a drinking game where we take a shot every time you mention Ong Seongwoo? Remember when Woojin got drunk during a lecture before we changed the rules to after 6pm only?”

Minhyun sits next to Jihoon, lowering his voice angrily, as people begin to give them dirty looks for disturbing the peace of the library.

“Hey that was only because Seongwoo turned up late to class because he was lining up for free doughnuts. And I was messaging you guys about how douchey he was.”

Jihoon rolls his eyes. “I know, hyung, he gave a doughnut to everyone except you because he didn’t have enough.”

“Exactly,” Minhyun says automatically. “Wait no, it was because he’s a douche! He ate two doughnuts, he said so himself.”

“First of all, I’m pretty sure he was apologising for eating two, not rubbing it in your face. Second, hyung, speak of the devil.”

Minhyun follows Jihoon’s line of sight to the library entrance, where the familiar figure of the man in question is strolling in, laughing animatedly with his other less-than-desirable friend Kang Daniel.

“What is Ong Seongwoo doing in a library,” Minhyun mutters under his breath, trying to hide himself with Jihoon’s psychology textbook. “I thought this would be the last place I’d ever see him.”

“Oh hey! Minhyun-ssi!”

Minhyun buries himself deeper into the textbook, hoping the voice was just his imagination. But he can feel the people who had given them dirty looks previously burning holes into his back. Maybe if he tries to make himself a little smaller, Seongwoo would take the hint and give up.

Alas, there’s a tap on his shoulder and he raises his head, Seongwoo’s annoying bright face staring down at him. Minhyun puts on his best poker-face. _Ok, trust Seongwoo to be dense enough not to get the hint._ But if he seemed nonchalant, Seongwoo would go away soon. Right?

“Minhyun-ssi, it’s me, Seongwoo, from Tuesday Literature,” Seongwoo voices brightly, and then falters slightly at Minhyun’s perfected blank look. “Um, I know you don’t really know me, but I just wanted to make sure that you’re still up for coffee?”

Minhyun blinks, the awkward pause feeling longer than it is. He wasn’t supposed to know who Seongwoo was?

“It’s just that when you said okay,” Seongwoo hurriedly sputters, breaking the silence, “I wasn’t sure if you were actually answering me, because you started walking in the other direction.”

 _Oh. This is good._ If Seongwoo thought his accepting was actually a mistake, all he needed to do was confirm it.

But Minhyun forgot that the devil incarnate was sitting right next to him. Snickering, Jihoon leans in. “He definitely said okay, hyung. We were just talking about it, he’s so excited.”

Seongwoo’s face lights up, shifting his gaze. “Park Jihoon! You’re friends with Minhyun-ssi?”

Minhyun wants to roll his eyes at how quickly Seongwoo’s attention shifts elsewhere. _Yes, talk about me like I’m not here_ , Minhyun simmers, giving Seongwoo his darkest glare while the other’s focus is occupied elsewhere. _Wait, Jihoon is friends with Seongwoo?_

“Minhyun-hyung and I are roommates.” Jihoon turns to Minhyun with the most deceivingly sweet expression. “Seongwoo-hyung and I were partners for a class last year.”

Minhyun stares at the angelic facade, jaw slack.

Jihoon changes direction back to Seongwoo, expression still disgustingly innocent. “Minhyun-hyung just had to hurry to his next class. He was asking my opinion on whether I thought you heard him say 'Okay!' He’d never miss getting coffee with you!”

“Oh I see, that’s great!” Seongwoo glances nervously at Minhyun. “I’ll see you tomorrow at 1pm, Azalea Hills then?”

Minhyun just stares at him, mind still racing with the fact that Jihoon somehow became friends with Ong Seongwoo and didn’t tell him about it.

“Hyung, what about 10am? Minhyun-hyung’s a morning person,” Jihoon offers instead, voice still laced with sugar. That snaps him out of his trance. Saturday 10am was when he and Jihoon always cleaned their apartment.

But before he can retaliate in the name of hygiene, he notices Seongwoo grinning at him, nodding wildly. Reevaluating, Minhyun forces out his best fake chuckle, squeezing his eyes into crescents. “I’ll see you then. Tomorrow. 10am.”

Jihoon nudges Minhyun, fluttering his eyelashes, and Minhyun fake-laughs back. _You’re dead,_ Minhyun glares with his eyes. _Thank me later_ , Jihoon retorts.

Their eye-fight is interrupted by nervous stammering.

“Hh-hi. I’m D-daniel.”

Jihoon looks strangely at the other man, who had somehow moved from Seongwoo’s side to the seat next to him.

“Um, okay?”

Daniel’s face turns bright red, but before he can open his mouth to embarrass himself any further, Seongwoo quickly grabs his arm and drags him away.

“See you tomorrow, Hwang Minhyun-ssi!”

Minhyun waves politely, waiting until Seongwoo has passed the doors before slamming his forehead into the desk.

 

 

It’s not that Ong Seongwoo did something drastic that changed Minhyun’s opinion of him forever. Minhyun isn’t even sure when it started. It just seems that many small things occurring over several years had boiled down to an immense dislike.

Like Seongwoo leaving a candy wrapper on his desk one day after class. Or Seongwoo pronouncing Shakespeare’s name as “Shackspeare”. Just these things alone mentally confirmed the fact that Ong Seongwoo was the type of person he didn’t want to associate with.

 _At least not willingly_ , Minhyun thinks, drumming his fingers on the coffee table. He had woken up early to get ready, woke Jihoon up to quickly get some cleaning done, and now he was here, in Azalea Hill.

The cafe is bright and airy, with quiet groups of people chattering over brunch and coffee, scattered in various areas around the space. It's clad in a light-coloured timber, making it feel warmer than it actually is. He’s sitting at a table near the entrance, ready to make a quick escape in case anything goes wrong.

He glances at his phone. _10.00 am._ That was another thing he hated about Ong Seongwoo. He was always late.

“Minhyun-ssi! Sorry for being late!” Seongwoo bursts into the quiet café, panting.

 _Wait a moment, he isn’t late. He’s right on time._ Minhyun gazes at him, suddenly uncertain.

Seongwoo saunters over, dropping down onto the chair with a dramatic sigh. Then he seems to catch himself, quickly glancing at Minhyun before straightening up and putting his hands in his lap.

“Ah, the coffees!” Seongwoo bounds back up, rushing to the counter. Minhyun chuckles to himself as Seongwoo’s small leather backpack bounces on his animated form.

Seongwoo’s dressed rather nicely today, with black skinny jeans, a white knitted turtleneck, and a beige overcoat. _It just accentuates how badly he dresses every other day_ , Minhyun thinks to himself.

He watches silently as Seongwoo easily makes conversation with the girl at the counter, musing carefully at the array of coffees described in the menu.  He tears his eyes away when his phone flashes with messages from the group chat.

 

 **Daehwi** **10.01 am**

Hyung! Good luck today!

 

**Jihoon 10.01 am**

lol don’t “accidentally” spill coffee on him hyung

 

**Woojin 10.02 am**

who wants to bet that minhyun spills coffee on seongwoo

 

**Jinyoung 10.02 am**

Me

 

**Jihoon 10.02 am**

Me

 

**Daehwi 10.02 am**

I’m sure he won’t!

 

**Guanlin 10.02 am**

Me

 

Minhyun smiles softly at his dongsaengs’ messages. Of course, Minhyun only gets roasted, but he doesn’t mind. He makes up for it with numerous hugs, kisses, and cheek-pinching in person.

“Who’s that?” Seongwoo’s sat back down, buzzer in hand. When Minhyun looks up at him, he quickly adds “Minhyun-ssi.”

He turns his phone over. “Just Jihoon and his friends.”

“Ah! Jihoon!” Seongwoo’s face lights up, in the exact same way it did yesterday. “How long have you known each other for?”

“Since Jihoon entered university?” Minhyun doesn’t go any further, still confused as to how close Seongwoo and Jihoon are. When he had tried to mention it over takeaway last night, Jihoon simply brushed it off, instead distracting him with cat videos. 

“Oh, um,” Seongwoo looks down, playing with the buzzer between his fingers. His knees bounce up and down, and he nervously glances at the counter, where the girl is still making their coffees.

“Who’s your favourite writer?” Seongwoo blurts out after a while.

Minhyun stares blankly, willing his mouth to move. But his brain has short-circuited, the connections broken. The only thought filling his mind is ‘ _Why can’t I say anything_?’

Reading was the best part of his day. At any time, if Jihoon so much as mentioned the word ‘book’, he’d usually go on a long spiel about the latest poems he’s read, and his carefully thought-out analysis of each stanza. 

But with Seongwoo, in the flesh, right in front of him, not in his imagination, not at a distance being glared at after coming into class late, his mouth feels dry. As if sensing his contemplation, Seongwoo raises his eyes to meet his, and they awkwardly maintain each other’s gaze at Minhyun’s inability to answer the question.

Suddenly the buzzer rings, and they both startle at the vibrations. Seongwoo gets up hurriedly, and Minhyun takes the opportunity to close his eyes and breathe slowly, reassessing his approach.

The first thing that comes to mind is the advice he had given himself yesterday. _Just. Act interested in him._ He opens his eyes, moistens his lips, and clenches his fists with newfound vigour.

He sees Seongwoo trying to walk back, awkwardly balancing coffee cups in each hand.

“Ah, Seongwoo, let me help you!”

Seongwoo jolts, eyes wide in alarm at Minhyun rushing forward with hands outstretched. The sudden movement causes the coffee to spill all over his turtleneck, dyeing the fabric in varying shades of brown.

“Fuck.”

_Fuck._

Minhyun simultaneously swears in his head as Seongwoo is swearing out loud. Then Seongwoo is taking off his coat, emptying his pockets onto the table. His grimace shifts to a strained smile.

“I’ll be right back, Minhyun-ssi! Don’t go anywhere!”

He can't, he's frozen on the spot in shock, only his eyes moving as they follow Seongwoo hurrying into the bathroom. The chatter in the cafe has died, and he feels every pair of eyes on him. When Seongwoo is out of sight, he reanimates, rubbing his brow slowly as he remembers what Jihoon said in the group chat.

Minhyun quickly picks up his phone to lament his sufferings, but it’s already bright with a string of notifications. He scrolls up to the top message.

 

**Daniel 10.00 am**

im in position

 

**Daniel 10.01 am**

ur an idiot buy him the coffee

 

**Daniel 10.05 am**

wtf say something

remember to ask him what’s jihoons type

oh and about literature

lemme copy and paste the speech u wrote

 

**Daniel 10.06 am**

Minhyun-ssi, I know we don’t know each other too well, but you’re really smart and I heard you got top of the class in literature last year. If it's no trouble, could you help me with my assignment?

 

**Daniel 10.08 am**

HAHAHA 

HAHAHAHAHA

HAHAH

HAHAHAHHA

 

Minhyun looks up, and spots the big frame at the edge of a booth, shoulders heaving and hands buried into his face. Daniel’s smile is so wide, the upturned corners of his lips are peeking out from beneath.

He feels his heart drop. 

 _So Seongwoo wasn’t actually asking him out on a date. He just wanted help on his assignment._ Minhyun groans internally, a tidal wave of regret washing over him.

And then the tide retreats, leaving annoyance. His subconscious draws upon all the hatred built up over the past few years, and Minhyun presses his lips in a tight line, fist squeezed. _This is what happens when you’re subtle._

As Seongwoo re-emerges from the bathroom, stained turtleneck slung over his forearm, leaving only his ratty Ninja Turtles t-shirt that Minhyun dislikes so much, he gets a great idea.

_I’m going to be nice to you, Ong Seongwoo. I’m going to be so nice, it’ll hurt._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> how successful do you think minhyun's revenge will be :')  
> also nielwink will be more important later!


	2. nice guy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Minhyun tries really hard to be a nice guy. Then he can hurt Seongwoo even more later, right? But things are difficult when Seongwoo's an idiot and his friends are savages.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> bet you weren't expecting this to be updated so fast! enjoy more of onghwang being dumb :)

Minhyun puts on the biggest fake grin, doing his best to channel his inner Park Jihoon, as Seongwoo walks back to the table.

His mind whirls as he debates exactly how he should be nice to him. Offer to pay for the coffees instead? Clean his turtleneck? Treat him like one of his dongsaengs?

Minhyun squints, trying to imagine Jinyoung’s face on Seongwoo’s body.

“Ah, Seongwoo-ya, are you okay? I’m sorry I didn’t mean it.” Minhyun opens his arms to pull Seongwoo into a hug, but then remembers who’s he’s actually talking to and settles for an awkward arm pat.

Seongwoo flinches at his touch, a wave of confusion passing over his face at Minhyun’s sudden friendly behaviour.

“Oh, I’m fine,” Seongwoo stammers, slowly edging away to the coffee table. “Minhyun-ssi, are you okay?” There’s a slight pause and Minhyun’s heart begins to race at the thought of Seongwoo seeing through his act. “Did any coffee get on you?”

Minhyun looks down, sweeping over his clothes, and sure enough, there’s a coffee stain on the sleeve of his favourite dark blue coat.

He bites down on his lip to prevent himself from screaming and prepares to brush it off with a chuckle, but Seongwoo’s already noticed it.

“Oh shit your coat!” Grabbing his sleeve suddenly, he pulls Minhyun’s hand up to eye-level to dab at it with napkins.

Feeling his ears heat up, and his breath catch in his throat, Minhyun coughs and pulls his hand away. _This must be what intense rage feels like._

But he promised to be nice, so summoning all the remaining feelings of goodwill from the bottom of his heart, Minhyun stretches his mouth into a smile, eyes blinking hard.

“It’s fine! I can barely see it!”

Seongwoo doesn’t seem to register what he said though, continuing to stare at the patch on Minhyun’s sleeves, features contorted apologetically. Minhyun wants to cover the stain with his hand, to wipe the somber look off Seongwoo’s face.

His thoughts are interrupted by an ‘ahem’ from the girl at the counter, who’s now standing next to them, grasping two coffee cups. They’re in takeaway form, tightly capped.

“Hey, I made you two new coffees. On the house. And sealed. Don’t want to ruin your first date.”

Before Minhyun can offer a thank you, Seongwoo speaks, way too fast and way too loud, “Oh we’re not on a date, we’re just classmates!”

Minhyun feels his skin prickle. The girl raises one eyebrow, handing a cup to each of them. “Well, enjoy your coffee anyway.”

They finally sit down at the table, the sound of the chair scraping against the tiled floor echoing louder than before. Seongwoo quickly picks up his phone and starts flicking through messages.

Minhyun had already figured out that this wasn’t a date, but he couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed. People didn’t usually ask him out, and he didn’t know why. He was perfectly affectionate and boyfriend material.  _Okay, maybe only selectively._

He looks up at the person opposite, whose eyes are focused on his phone. Come to think of it, he’d never seen Seongwoo this close in real life before. He knew that people found Seongwoo good-looking, he could tell from the thousands of likes on Seongwoo’s Instagram posts.

There are two versions of Seongwoo, edited, filtered Seongwoo definitely different from the Seongwoo who stumbled in, bleary-eyed, to their shared class at 9am. However the one in front of him right now seems slightly different, even if he’s wearing that godforsaken Ninja Turtles t-shirt.

Suddenly, Seongwoo’s eyes widen, lips mouthing _‘oh my god.’_ He drops his phone on the table, looking behind him towards Daniel, gesturing wildly.

Curiosity gets the better of him, and Minhyun discreetly moves Seongwoo’s phone closer, making out the message in a group chat called ‘dance club’.

 

**Daniel 10.15 am**

lmao when seongwoo tries to be cool :<

[IMG_1606.jpg]

 

The accompanying photo is of a very frazzled-looking Seongwoo, eyes blown comically wide and mouth hanging open, coffee all over his front. On the side, Minhyun is frozen like a statue, devoid of any expression.

The messages underneath are variations of ‘HAHAHA’, all from different people. He pushes the phone back, satisfied, raising the coffee cup to his lips. 9am Seongwoo and the Seongwoo in front of him were one and the same.

Then he sputters, spitting it all out.

Seongwoo turns, shocked, eyes moving between Minhyun’s distraught expression, and his own phone covered in coffee droplets.

“W-what is this?” Minhyun coughs, the bitter taste overwhelming his palate.

“Black coffee!” Seongwoo pauses. “You like black coffee right?”

Minhyun can’t help but twist his features into disbelief.

“You said you hate doughnuts, and sweet things…” Seongwoo trails off.

There’s a fire in Minhyun’s belly, and he bites his tongue to keep it inside. _How did I even end up in this situation?_ He parts his lips to rebuke, but instead he lets out a giggle at the ridiculousness of it all. And then another one. And then his hands are on his stomach, laughter falling freely.

When his chest is finally empty, and he wipes a tear from his eye, he looks up at Seongwoo who is staring at him hesitantly. “Everything good?”

He head starts to spin as a result of both laughing so hard, and having to deal with Seongwoo. He feels a smile a little too close to genuine form on his lips.

“Erm, can I ask you a question?” Seongwoo laughs nervously, looking down at his phone, still covered in coffee droplets.

Minhyun furrows his brows. _The hell, he won’t even clean his phone?_ He fights back a strong urge to start throwing napkins at Seongwoo.

Seongwoo suddenly looks up, making eye-contact.

“Minhyun-ssi.”

Minhyun knows what Seongwoo is about to say, and he scoffs internally at Seongwoo’s serious expression.

“I know we know,” Seongwoo looks back down, features scrunched. “Wait. We _don’t_ know. Sorry, hang on, let me start over.”

Seongwoo literally can’t even string two sentences together, he definitely needs help.

The man opposite looks up at him in shock. _Crap he said that out loud._

Rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly, Seongwoo’s eyes form into crescents. “I guess you do know I’m not doing very well in Literature.”

Something similar to impatience washes over Minhyun. He just wants to walk out of here before he can embarrass himself any further.

 _Be nice_.

“I’ll give you my number,” Minhyun hears himself say, reaching for Seongwoo’s phone. He recoils when his hand makes contact with a droplet, smearing it on the glass. “Actually, what’s yours?”

Minutes later, Minhyun leaves the cafe with two things of Seongwoo’s he never could have imagined when he first walked in. In his phone, Seongwoo’s number is saved, and on his arm, is Seongwoo’s coffee-stained turtleneck.

 

 

 

**Woojin 10.13 am**

wait guys how does the drinking game work when minhyun’s actually with seongwoo right now

i need an excuse to daytime drink

jks but this is an important question

 

**Daehwi 10.14 am**

Hyung, Jihoon changed it to after 6pm remember?

Are you drunk?

 

**Woojin 10.15 am**

shush

wait

what

no way he actually spilled coffee on him ajfewkjl

[IMG_1606.jpg]

daehwi you lose ;)

 

Minhyun groans as he scrolls through the old messages in the group chat, recalling the memories from this morning. He’s back in the apartment laying on the couch with his hand on his forehead, having stumbled there straight away as soon as he got home, without even taking his coat off.

“Hyung! How was it! I saw the photos and videos.” Jihoon plops cross-legged, eyes sparkling, onto Minhyun’s legs, earning an ‘ooft’.

“There’s multiple photos? And videos?”

“Yeah, scroll down more!”

Jihoon snatches the phone from him, gliding his finger through the chat.

“Oh this one is pretty funny, you’re literally just laughing at him. Hyung, can you be anymore obvious?”

Minhyun cringes at his random laughter breakdown, noticing how people in the background stare at him, disturbed, while Seongwoo just looks stunned.

“Oh, this one’s the best!

Jihoon cracks up. The video starts, zoomed into Seongwoo facing the camera, making killing motions at Daniel, then suddenly it pans across, perfectly capturing the moment he spits out all his coffee.

“I don’t know where Woojin got these videos from. Hyung, they’re so good, who filmed them, I want to be his new best friend!”

 _That little shit Kang Daniel_ , Minhyun mutters under his breath.

“Oh. The weird guy from the library?”

Minhyun glares at him. “What, you’re friends with Ong Seongwoo, and you don’t know Kang Daniel?”

Jihoon raises his hands in defence. “Okay, now that you’ve totally messed up in front of Seongwoo, I’ll confess, we only know each other through our majors. I was just trying to rile you up.”

Minhyun groans again, covering his face with his hands.

“I told you hyung, now you can just go back to hating him.” Jihoon pauses, and then grabs his arm, eyes wide. “What the heck, there’s a stain on your sleeve? How does Hwang Minhyun have a stain on his sleeve?”

“I don’t know, Jihoon,” Minhyun complains exasperatedly. “Just… please don’t mention Seongwoo in front of me again.”

Jihoon surveys him quietly, pondering. “Okay, I won’t, hyung.”

Minhyun feels the corners of his mouth stretch upwards, and he gets up, tackling the younger with a hug. “What was that Park Jihoon?”

Jihoon rolls his eyes but doesn’t retaliate. “Don’t push it, hyung.”

 

 

A week later, Minhyun is still trying his best to forget about last Saturday. It’s just really hard when people, like the aunt he hasn’t seen for years, message him randomly throughout the week asking about Seongwoo.

Seongwoo is currently getting attention for a minor role in one of the biggest dramas of the year. He had watched the few episodes he was in last month, skipping through to laugh at his acting. He didn’t think other people were actually paying attention.

Today, Minhyun’s spending the few hours before their weekly clean up time in bed. He’s been scrolling through the newly posted behind-the-scenes photos for the drama on his laptop, scanning the background for Seongwoo (he’s just bored, he swears, he had just finished his literature assignment), when his phone lights up with messages from the group chat.

He had tried to keep phone use to a minimum all week, to avoid the random people contacting him, but it was a Saturday morning and he feels like he has time to kill, so he swipes right to open it.

 

**Woojin 9.04 am**

why am i awake

why am i awake at 9.04 am on a saturday morning you ask

because my instructor is a bitch

who can’t come to class next week

so now me and jinyoung are here

BUT HE ISNT

??????

 

**Jinyoung 9.04 am**

Yeah ...

 

**Jihoon 9.06 am**

burn him

he does not deserve to exist in this world

 

**Daehwi 9.08 am**

Hyung, I told you yesterday that he changed it again

 

**Guanlin 9.08 am**

I think you’re now the bitch hyung

 

**Woojin 9.08 am**

.

.

.

WAIT LAI GUANLIN

 

**Guanlin 9.09 am**

Don’t worry hyung just saying that your instructor played you

 

**Jinyoung 9.13 am**

[IMG_0211.jpg]

Woojin hyung is actually freaking out right now HAHAHAHA

 

**Guanlin 9.15 am**

Noooooo

 

**Minhyun 9.16 am**

Who corrupted Guanlin while I was gone? D:

 

**Guanlin 9.16 am**

Hyung!

 

**Jinyoung 9.16 am**

Hyung you’re back!

 

**Daehwi 9.16 am**

We missed you hyung!

 

**Minhyun 9.17 am**

How are my favourite dongsaengs doing? :D

 

**Woojin 9.17 am**

thank goodness you’re back hyung they started roasting me

probably because I’m oldest, not counting jihoon because he’s scary

 

**Jihoon 9.17 am**

nice minhyun hyung is back on his phone

[IMG_1606.jpg]

realised this is the first photo of you and seongwoo together <3

 

Minhyun stares at the memory he had been avoiding all week, right there, in his hand. He can hear Jihoon cracking up in his room.

“Ya! Park Jihoon! What is this!!!”

“Hyung you just said not to mention Seongwoo in front of you!”

He puts his fingers to his forehead in annoyance. Why did Satan himself have to be a psychology minor?

The suppressed memories of that day come rushing back, and he subconsciously opens up his contact list, thumb hovering over Seongwoo’s number.

When he realises what he’s doing, he gulps and locks his phone, throwing it on his bed. Looking up, he can see it, the bag that he put Seongwoo’s turtleneck into, hidden behind his door. He slowly gets up, cautiously opening the bag like there’s some sort of monster inside.

The turtleneck looks exactly the same as it did last week, the coffee colouring the threads an array of different browns. He realises that there’s a mixture of black coffee in there and he inwardly shivers, his tongue remembering the taste.

_I’ll wash it all away._

He quickly hurries to the bathroom with the turtleneck, gathering all his cleaning supplies in his arms. Then he goes back to his bedroom to google ‘How to clean coffee off white wool?’

After following the instructions, scrubbing really hard, and putting it in the washing machine, he remembers the stain on his favourite blue coat, sighing at the fact that he had forgotten to wash it on the day.

He goes back to his closet and picks up the sleeve, bringing it up to his eye.

“Ya, what should I do with you.”

For some reason he starts smiling when the scent of coffee wafts from the sleeve, as if in response. He looks back at the door, suddenly feeling guilty, and then grabs his phone from the bed, using quick access to swipe the camera app open.

Angling the sleeve so that the coffee stain catches the light, he snaps a few photos.

“Hyung, what are you doing?”

Minhyun whirls around, ears red, voice squeaky. “Nothing!!!”

Jihoon stares at him for a second, arms crossed, and then launches forward, aiming for his phone.

Minhyun uses his height to his advantage, holding the phone out of reach, but then Jihoon jabs his side, causing him to drop it. They both scramble for the phone, but Minhyun grabs it with an “Aha!”

 

_Ring ring. Ring ring._

 

Minhyun stares in mortification, while the corners of Jihoon’s lips turn upwards, at the words ‘Calling Seongwoo’. And then it connects.

“Hello?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i was still inspired so i decided to write the next chapter as soon as possible! the next update will probably be in a week :) i'm planning to start on nielwink in the next chapter, maybe from daniel's perspective? what do you guys think? or should it be jihoon's perspective, hm. 
> 
> they're all meant to be in university right now, assume the younger members are 1st years, jihoon & woojin are 2nd years, daniel & jaehwan are 3rd years, minhyun & seongwoo are 4th years, sungwoon's a 5th year, and jisung is just floating around campus, unable to let go of his younger days hehe
> 
> hope you enjoyed, see you next week <3


	3. the best plan

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jihoon and Daniel are sick of their friends moping around and decide to take things into their own hands.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> soooo i lied. here's another update! enjoy :)

**??? 9.20 am**

is this kang daniel

 

**Daniel 9.24 am**

Yes.

Who is this?

 

**??? 9.24 am**

you don’t need to know

im here to enlist you

 

**Daniel 9.24 am**

…

For what?

 

**??? 9.24 am**

i can help out seongwoo

 

Daniel stares at his phone, unsure of whether he should reply. He considers sending another message, demanding to know who this person is. But his attention shifts to the subject of the strange exchange, who has just walked into the kitchen, bed hair on full display, feet dragging across the floor.

He’s holding his phone, having not let it out of his sight for the past week. Seongwoo’s been acting different, and Daniel doesn’t know why.

“You’re still waiting for Minhyun’s call?”

Seongwoo plops down next to him at the kitchen counter, unresponsive, instead staring forlornly at his phone.

Daniel doesn’t know how to approach this Seongwoo. “Didn’t you say he hated you? Why would he call you?”

Seongwoo sighs and shakes his head. “I don’t know, Niel, I swear he looked at me differently than how he usually does.”

“Then maybe he doesn’t hate you? Maybe you were just imagining it this whole time?” Daniel probes for answers brazenly, desperate for a definitive response. “Jisung-hyung did say that he’s famous for being an ice prince.”

Seongwoo scoffs. “An ice prince. How fitting.” He puts his head into his arms.

Oh. He _really_ does not like this new Seongwoo. He misses having someone to banter with. He misses taking turns teasing Jaehwan in the group chat. He misses making fun of his best friend (in a friendly way of course).

Daniel hurriedly takes out his phone to message a response.

 

**Daniel 9.34 am**

It’s a deal.

Help out Seongwoo.

I’ll do whatever you ask.

Just turn him back to normal.

 

**??? 9.39 am**

you’re wise

i never would have pegged you for it

you’ll be rewarded in due time

 

Daniel rolls his eyes, not in the mood to entertain the sarcastic tone of the stranger. The sight of Seongwoo lying lifeless on the kitchen bench is making his chest feel weird.

A few minutes later, Seongwoo’s phone lights up and starts vibrating, the number displayed on the screen unknown. Seongwoo turns to Daniel, eyes wide, mouthing ‘ _No way’._

 _‘Pick it up!’_ he mouths in response. Did the stranger already do something?

“Hello?” Seongwoo says, putting it on speaker, voice trembling.

There’s some muffled noises, and Seongwoo and Daniel both stare at each other, features identical in a mixture of concern and hope.

“Hey! Is this Seongwoo-hyung?”

“Yeah, who is this?”

More muffled noises, then the sound of something being kicked, and a groan.

“It’s Park Jihoon, hyung!”

Daniel puts his hand to his mouth, eyes wide. Was the strange person who sent him the message Jihoon? Jihoon was so cute and nice at the library last week, he had immediately fallen for him. But the person on his phone seems so rude and sarcastic and totally opposite to his image.

Seongwoo shrugs. “Oh Jihoon, what’s up?”

“I’m calling from Minhyun-hyung’s phone, you should save this number!” Seongwoo’s features brighten, and he turns to Daniel, the previous expression of despondency washed away. “And he wants to know when you’re free to meet up next!”

“I-I’m free whenever! He isn’t embarrassed by me? He really wants to meet up?”

There’s another _thud_ and another groan, some hushed whispering, and then the indecipherable strained voice of someone else. “-th-the library!”

“The library? That’s a weird place to have a date.” Jihoon’s voice comes out clear, but confused. There’s a pause, and then a _thud._  “A-ah he’ll see you there at 1pm hyung!” The call abruptly ends.

Daniel and Seongwoo both stare at the phone in shocked silence. Daniel staring because it sounded like Jihoon was beating Minhyun up for answers, Seongwoo staring because he could not believe his ears.

“Minhyun-ssi wants to see me at the library?”

“That’s what I heard… why the library?”

“He gave me his number when I said I was bad at Literature. Maybe he wants to help me out?”

Daniel raises an eyebrow. “From what you’ve told me… Hwang Minhyun just wants to help someone out? And someone he supposedly hates?”

Seongwoo shrugs his shoulders dramatically, raising his palms in the air. “Well I don’t know Kang Daniel, you tell me, why else he would he be asking me out?”

Daniel can’t help but laugh at Seongwoo’s sudden frivolity, and then he laughs again at Seongwoo’s ‘ _wtf why are you laughing’_ expression that he receives so often. His old friend is slowly coming back.

 

 

 

**Daniel 10.21 pm**

Hey.

Thanks Jihoon-ssi :)

 

**??? 10.21 pm**

what

no

im not park jihoon

 

**Daniel 10.21 pm**

Don’t lie Jihoon-ssi, I was there when you called Seongwoo, right after your message

 

**Jihoon 10.23 pm**

crap

you were?

 

**Daniel 10.23 pm**

Yep!

:)

You seem like a strong guy wouldn’t want to mess with ya haha

Anyway, what’s the plan for tomorrow?

 

**Jihoon 10.24 pm**

oops

didn’t know you could hear me putting minhyun hyung into an armlock

anyway

what im about to tell you is very sensitive information

and does not leave this chat  

swear on your heart

 

**Daniel 10.24 pm**

-puts hand on chest-

I swear!

 

**Jihoon 10.25 pm**

i believe that minhyun hyung actually likes seongwoo hyung

but refuses to acknowledge it

 

Daniel cocks his head, confused. From what Seongwoo had said, Hwang Minhyun was the type that was cold, and would definitely not crush on, or even want to associate with, anyone like Seongwoo.

 

**Daniel 10.26 pm**

Seriously?

How?

And why?

 

**Jihoon 10.27 pm**

that’s not important right now

just be at the library tomorrow at 1pm

and don’t tell seongwoo any of this

i’ll contact you

 

Daniel scratches his head, still puzzled. How can Minhyun like Seongwoo? He at least knows for a fact there’s no way in hell Seongwoo likes Minhyun in that way. He’s pretty convinced Seongwoo’s terrified of him.

When Seongwoo had first mentioned Minhyun as the guy who death-glares him in class (prompting Daniel to tease ‘ _that’s why you don’t date, only dead people like you!_ ’), he had found it funny. But when he had re-watched the videos he had recorded of them in the cafe, Seongwoo looked way too on edge everytime he interacted with Minhyun.

He doesn’t know what Jihoon is planning on doing, but there’s no fun if it could possibly hurt Seongwoo. Even if Jihoon is impossibly cute (and he kind of likes that he approached him first), rescuing his best friend from the clutches of Hwang Minhyun is his priority.

 

 

“Come on hyung, it’ll be fine!”

It’s Sunday morning, and Jihoon is standing over Minhyun who is trying to bury himself deeper into his blankets with his book.

Minhyun rolls his eyes at the younger, swatting him away, wincing at the pain in his arm where Jihoon had sat on it the day before. “Jihoon, why would I willingly meet somebody that I hate? Logically, it doesn’t make sense.”

Jihoon moves under the blankets beside him, the side of his head propped up with his palm and wiggles his eyebrows. “Because you’re obsessed with him and haven’t seen him in a week? You looked so sad when you came home and said Seongwoo skipped Literature.”

“Um, that’s called an observation. Not an obsession. Frankly, I could care less what Seongwoo is doing.”

“Hyung, then why did you go to Azalea Hill to meet Seongwoo? You could’ve easily stood him up.”

“It’s called being a nice guy. Maybe you’ve heard of that concept, Jihoon?”

“Then why did you mope around for a week after meeting Seongwoo? You could’ve easily brushed it off if you didn’t care.”

Minhyun’s starting to feel his stomach drop. Jihoon was doing that psychoanalysis thing on him and it almost always concludes with what Jihoon wants to hear.

“Because- because- I wasn’t moping around, geez Jihoon!” He kicks his blankets off and gets up, his reading mood ruined.

Jihoon hasn’t given up though, following Minhyun to the bathroom. “You should go meet Seongwoo, hyung. Trust me when I say you’ll regret it otherwise.”

Minhyun sighs, leaning his forehead against the cold mirror. He can’t lie, there is a small inkling in him that wants to see Seongwoo in person. Blurry screen captures of his appearance in the drama could only suffice so much.

But then he remembers why Seongwoo wanted to meet him in the first place. To Seongwoo he was just the top student. He doubts he would’ve paid attention to him if he was anyone else. To the List of Things Minhyun Hates About Ong Seongwoo, he adds at the very top, ‘ _Plays with Minhyun’s Heart.’_

He thinks back to the pledge he had quickly made in his head last week. He’ll go meet Seongwoo, and pretend to be nice, and then when Seongwoo least expects it, he’ll take it all away. That would teach him.

Jihoon’s face lights up with hope at the smile creeping onto Minhyun’s lips. “Hyung, is that an okay?”

Minhyun turns to him, the smile reaching his eyes. “Yes Jihoon, it’s definitely an okay.”

 

 

 _A nice guy, be a nice guy._ Minhyun clenches his fists, repeating the words in his head like a mantra.

Seongwoo’s just walked into the library, and he’s dressed himself well again, wearing a black sweater over a white button up, dark blue jeans, and carrying the small leather backpack that bounces as he walks. Minhyun feels his heart beating wildly, but he dismisses it as simmering rage. _A nice guy, be a nice guy._

Spotting him at the desk, Seongwoo waves softly, in contrast to his annoyingly bright expression. He ambles over, and pauses, hovering over him.

Now with Seongwoo so close again, Minhyun can only stare, no words daring to escape his lips. Then a heartbeat later he forcibly exhales, bending down to pick up the bag by his foot.

“Here,” he says under his breath.

Seongwoo looks down at the open bag and a smile works its way to his lips.

“Ah, thankyou Minhyun-ssi.”

He takes the bag, brings the turtleneck out, surveying it. Minhyun expects disappointment at the stubborn stains still clinging to the threads, but instead Seongwoo _puts it on?_

Minhyun snaps out of his trance and he can’t help but scowl at Seongwoo all lumpy like a marshmallow.

Seongwoo sits opposite him, busying himself by spreading papers out on the desk. “I brought some examples of my work. Do you want to look at them?”

He quickly glances up, catching Minhyun’s scowl, and his cheeks redden. “Or not.”

Minhyun blinks in shame at getting caught, and then quickly grabs the nearest paper, putting it up to his face. He can’t trust that his true feelings won’t come out, not when the way that he treats Seongwoo right now is so crucial to his plan.

His eyes focus on the words on the page, and he makes a mental effort not to scowl again. Seongwoo’s work truly is horrendous.

“Is it bad?” Seongwoo voices hesitantly.

“It’s… it can be worked on…” Minhyun lets his sentences trail ambiguously, unsure how to continue without being too rude.

It isn’t the content that is bad, it’s the basics, a lack of foundation in grammar and sentence structure. And a few spelling mistakes here and there. And some missing punctuation.

If he really wants to be nice, they’d have to meet up more than once. But he’d rather that not be an option.

“I’ll try rewriting it so you can see the difference. In the meantime, you can look at this.”

Minhyun doesn’t dare make eye contact just in case they betray his emotions, so he awkwardly pushes his worn-out poetry notebook towards Seongwoo’s direction, and then gets started with his red pen.

After making a few changes, his eyes wander up while thinking of a better way to phrase a sentence. However they’re drawn to Seongwoo, who is smiling down at Minhyun’s notebook.

He feels his face heat up and immediately tears his gaze away. _He looks so dumb,_ Minhyun quickly thinks to himself. _How is it possible to look that dumb._

Before he realises what he’s doing, he has his phone in his hand, finger ready to swipe the camera app open. Then his brain catches up with him, and he re-maneuvers, opening up the new message in the group chat instead. _Phew, that was close._

 

**Woojin 1.10 pm**

oi hoonie, i met with daniel we’re about to go into the library

shit

wrong chat

no one tell minhyun

 

**Jihoon 1.11 pm**

he’s literally on his phone right now

park woojin you better sleep with one eye open tonight

 

**Woojin 1.12 pm**

oh crap we already went inside though

 

Minhyun looks up to Woojin and Daniel standing behind Seongwoo like lost puppies. They stare at him, unsure what to do next, and Minhyun narrows his eyes. Suddenly there’s a _ding_ from Woojin’s phone.

 

**Jihoon 1.12 pm**

then begin phase 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> is jihoon's plan going to work? is daniel going to stuff it up? will minhyun keep denying that he feels something more than hate? wth is seongwoo thinking? 
> 
> find out next time! :D
> 
> (omg all the dumb onghwang content on xcon tonight my heart ;^;)


	4. it's literally so easy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jihoon's plan whirls into action, with a little help from Woojin and Daniel. Minhyun just can't help but fall for it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> when fate (or park jihoon) kicks minhyun right in the butt, he can’t run forever! >:D

Minhyun watches with suspicion as Woojin reads the messages from Jihoon on his phone, and then nudges Daniel.

“Hey, hyung,” Daniel whispers, leaning down to Seongwoo’s ear, who’s still absorbed in Minhyun’s notebook.

“AARGH!!” The startled cry echoes around the silence of the library, and a chorus of confused chattering follows, as people look around trying to identify the peacebreaker.

Seongwoo glances at Minhyun, face flushed, and then covers it with his hands. “Daniel, what are you doing here,” he pushes out through gritted teeth.

Daniel takes it as his cue to sit next to Seongwoo, acting as if he didn’t just scare the living daylights out of his friend. Woojin walks around to take his place besides Minhyun.

He’d usually greet his dongsaengs with a shoulder squeeze or an arm pat, (or a head rub just for Woojin because that’s what gets him annoyed), but with Seongwoo and Daniel sitting opposite, he remains still.

“Hi Minhyun-ssi, I’m Daniel, Seongwoo-hyung’s friend.” Daniel smiles one of his standard crescent-eyed smiles, ignoring Seongwoo who’s waving his hand in front of his face. “Woojin and I were just passing by after dance club and we thought you guys looked a bit lonely.”

They both scoff at his obvious lie, Minhyun scoffing internally. Seongwoo tries to convince Daniel to leave with his best hand-motioning towards the door, but he’s not making much progress as it looks like he’s gesturing to a smiling brick wall. Minhyun doesn’t realise he’s so absorbed with watching him until he feels a tap on his shoulder.

“Minhyun your inner creepy is showing.” Woojin eyes him, smirking with his snaggletooth on display.

 _Excuse me!?_ While he’d usually coo at Woojin’s tooth, Minhyun’s mortified at both the accusation and the lack of honorifics (in public). He habitually pulls Woojin into a headlock, threatening him with a grab of his ear, “Say that again Park Woojin!” He knows that while Woojin is equally as savage as Jihoon, he’s all bark and no bite, so he has nothing to fear in the physical department.

When the younger doesn’t resist, Minhyun’s breath hitches as he realises that he’s fallen straight into Jihoon’s trap. He releases him from his grasp, feeling the heat on the side of his face, and then he turns nervously to gauge the reactions of the two opposite.

Daniel’s wide-eyed, jaw hanging, but Seongwoo is simply… smiling?

Somewhere behind him he hears Jihoon’s unmistakable laughter.

Woojin whines, rubbing his neck for dramatic effect. “Oh hyung you need to stop doing that! I know you love me but sometimes it gets too much.” Minhyun gapes at him, the casualness in his tone messing with his mind. It was like Woojin had anticipated his reaction.

“Do you remember last year when you went to see me at the dance club showcase?” The younger turns to him, sparks in his eyes.

Minhyun gulps as the memory comes rushing back. He puts his hand on Woojin’s arm and subtly tries to convey a threat through his stare, but Woojin grins and continues anyway. “You came wearing a facemask and a hat, and you got so excited when they asked if anyone in the audience wanted to participate.”

Minhyun presses his lips together, widening his eyes murderously. “And then you came right up to me and started wiggling your butt at the audience! Gosh, hyung, why did you do that, I was soooooo embarrassed!”

If Woojin and him were alone, he’d confess that Woojin was too adorably cute in his dance outfit to resist getting up on stage, and then probably noogie him a few times while laughing.

But with Seongwoo and Daniel there, he can only stew in his humiliation. Minhyun peeks at Seongwoo, who’s looking at him as if he’s the funniest thing in the world, and he feels his insides convulse.

He definitely did not intend for this side of himself to be known to anyone besides his dongsaengs, never having been like this before until Jihoon became his roommate last year. One day he suddenly had the urge to shower him and his friends with affection.

But now the one person he hates (and the person he hate’s best friend) knows his weakness. He finds himself glaring at Seongwoo, wanting to wipe the stupid grin off his mouth.

Daniel’s silent-laughing, and finishes with a muted bang of the hand to the table. Then he leans forward towards Minhyun, as if he has something important to tell him. Automatically, Minhyun reciprocates, desperate for the attention to be placed elsewhere.

“Hyung, do you want to know some of Seongwoo-hyung’s secrets?” The corners of Minhyun’s lips start to creep upwards and he nods eagerly, revelling in the way Seongwoo stiffens. Daniel weaves his fingers together, stretching his arms out onto the table.

“During his first audition, they asked whether he could show less body language,” Daniel pauses to build up the tension, while Seongwoo’s eyes grow large. “Then he stood there, looked the casting director right in the eye, and then started stripping because he thought they said to go shirtless!”

“It’s not my fault show less sounds like shirtless,” Seongwoo mumbles with a whine, crossing his arms over his front.

Minhyun feels something bubbling within his chest, and it comes out as a laugh that rings clearly around the library, causing a few people to look up.

Daniel waits for Minhyun to finish before continuing, his face now serious. “You know how he wasn’t at Literature on Tuesday?” His voice is lowered to a hushed whisper, and Minhyun leans forward, aching for the answer to the question that’s been plaguing him the past week.

“It’s because he hates Literature. It’s his least favourite class and he’d rather do anything but it.” Seongwoo turns to Daniel, about to rebuff him, but closes his mouth when he realises it’s the truth. Minhyun nods slowly. It explains why Seongwoo is always late and his writing incomprehensible.

“He needs to pass it to complete his degree though,” Daniel sticks his thumb out to the person in question, who’s now staring at his fingers in shame. “But sometimes he’d rather fail than even think about Literature.”

At that, something clicks in Minhyun’s mind. He gets an epiphany. The perfect way to torture Seongwoo, while under the pretence of being nice. He doesn’t even have to put in much effort, the pieces are all naturally falling into place.

“I’ll tutor him then,” Minhyun says, shuffling some of Seongwoo’s papers around the desk to try to pass the remark off as nonchalant as possible. He isn’t being inconsiderate about what Seongwoo hates, after all Literature was why he approached him for coffee in the first place, right?

Seongwoo scrambles to his feet, waving his palms in front of him. “W-what no! Minhyun-ssi you don’t have to!”

“No, no, I should help if my classmate is struggling.” Minhyun disguises his enjoyment of seeing a distraught Seongwoo as a smile laced with sweetness. Seongwoo’s face falls when he realises that there’s no changing the mind of the man in front of him.

“Wow Minhyun-hyung, that’s so nice. Can you help me with my homework afterwards?”

Minhyun dismisses Woojin’s question with a wave of his hand (“Later, later.” “But you always say that hyung!”), and proceeds to continue smiling at Seongwoo who looks like he’s in the middle of having an existential crisis. His plan is going perfectly. And as Woojin pointed out, it’s all because of what Minhyun is. Nice.

 

 

 

**Jihoon 10.01 pm**

what made you change your mind

 

**Daniel 10.05 pm**

Hm, what are you talking about Jihoon-ssi?

 

**Jihoon 10.05 pm**

how you trusted minhyun hyung all of a sudden

 

**Daniel 10.06 pm**

Well...

You’re really clever, did you know that?

 

**Jihoon 10.06 pm**

is that a serious question

as if i would answer otherwise

 

**Daniel 10.06 pm**

Haha :)

Well I’m sure you know why I changed my mind

Minhyun is a totally different person from what I imagined

Also I can tell that he really likes Seongwoo

From how he keeps staring at him like he’s seeking his approval

And also keeps staring at his mouth

 

**Jihoon 10.07 pm**

well done young one, you are worthy to be my disciple

 

**Daniel 10.07 pm**

I am honoured, Jihoon-ssi :D

I had no idea Bubble-Butt was Minhyun?

 

**Jihoon 10.07 pm**

wait what bubble-butt??????????

 

**Daniel 10.08 pm**

It’s a nickname Seongwoo hyung came up with after the showcase lol

He watches the video sometimes when he’s sad

 

**Jihoon 10.08 pm**

hang on

there’s a video…

that i don’t know about…

of minhyun hyung embarrassing himself…

 

**Daniel 10.08 pm**

I can give it to you! It’s on a USB

 

**Jihoon 10.08 pm**

real smooth

 

**Daniel 10.08 pm**

Hmm?

 

**Jihoon 10.09 pm**

yes play it off that’ll work, young one

 

**Daniel 10.09 pm**

Okay you caught me

Did you see my wink in the library? ;)

 

**Jihoon 10.10 pm**

did you see me gagging

i enlisted you for dirt not to flirt

anyway

time to begin phase 2

 

 

 

Mondays are supposed to be the worst thing known to man, but today feels a little different. Minhyun’s pillow feels extra soft this morning. And the sunlight is warmer than usual. And he swears the kink in his arm miraculously healed itself. He turns onto his front and smiles into his pillow, for a reason he doesn’t know why.

Humming the melody of some song from the 90’s, he strolls into the living room feeling light as a feather.

“Wow, someone’s extra cheery today.” Jihoon has his back to him, intensely reading the instructions on a bottle of pancake mix.

“Awwwww Jihoooniieeee.” Minhyun has gotten one arm past Jihoon’s waist, when Jihoon swivels around and jabs Minhyun in the stomach with the pancake mix bottle.

“Ooft,” Minhyun recoils, bending over, but happiness overwhelms him again and he straightens, continuing to smile at Jihoon’s slightly terrified face. “Jihoooniieeee.”

Jihoon breathes a sigh of relief when Minhyun decides to lean back on the island bench. As the younger turns back to fiddle with the knobs on the gas stove, Minhyun creeps forward again, dropping his chin on Jihoon’s shoulder. It jerks upwards on reflex, sending the top of Minhyun’s head crashing into the overhead exhaust. “Ow,” Minhyun utters.

“Good, a little pain in the morning does wonders to wake annoying people up.”

Minhyun frowns, rubbing his head. “I thought I told you that that’s not the right way to say ‘sorry’”.

Rolling his eyes, Jihoon begins to carefully pour the mix into a measuring cup. “I’m sorry, hyung. Will pancakes be enough?”

“Ooh are those for me? Is Jihoon finally showing me his love?”

“Definitely no. I thought you would need some cheering up today, but I guess not.”

Minhyun cocks his head, wondering why Jihoon would think that, but nothing immediately comes to mind. “Hyung, don’t you remember your promise?” He sends Jihoon’s back a quizzical look. “You have to tutor Ong Seongwoo for Literature from now on.”

Oh. _Oh._ That’s right. He should be screaming from the balcony in frustration.

“Well, if you’re not about to tear your hair out from the mere mention of Seongwoo-hyung, why don’t you start looking through all those papers you brought home while I cook the pancakes? They were cluttering up the kitchen bench so I put them on the table.”

Minhyun makes his way to the dining table, sighing as he sifts through Seongwoo’s writing, and he decides to settle on the one dated the most recently.

It’s a short poem about a domesticated fox who’s never known anything but his owner’s home in the snowy mountains his whole life. One day circumstances force him to leave, which also happens to be the day the snow begins to melt. He nervously journeys outside, only to find that he didn’t need the snow or his home to survive anyway.

Minhyun’s quite surprised by how thoughtful the poem is, once he’s deciphered the content from the jumble of sentences. He’d half-expected Seongwoo to write about the woes of doing the laundry and eating healthily, lamenting it all in rhyme too. It’s kind of weird to think that Seongwoo’s thoughts run a little deeper than whether he should get out of bed today.

He’s so engrossed in reading Seongwoo’s poetry that he doesn’t notice Jihoon has already begun eating the pancakes opposite him, until the younger starts cracking up at his phone.

“Hey, give me some pancakes!” Minhyun grabs the fork and unsuccessfully stabs at the plate.

Jihoon’s still laughing, and he turns the phone around. “Hyung, look who became the next big campus couple!”

Minhyun looks up from the very difficult task of picking up pancakes with a fork, and then drops it immediately.

Jihoon’s phone is open to Messpatch (some university group’s sad attempt at being the next Dispatch, and a journalistic failure in Minhyun’s opinion). Right at the top is the headline, “RISING ACTOR ONG SEONGWOO DATING.” Underneath are photos of a man with a blurred-out face sitting opposite Seongwoo in both a cafe and a library, wearing a very familiar dark blue coat.  

His heartbeat stutters. The man is unmistakably Minhyun.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i guess things will start to pick up from now! thankyou for all your lovely comments everyone <3


	5. sorry for the inconvenience

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Minhyun meets Seongwoo for that tutoring session, and he discovers a lot of new things.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hope you enjoy the back-to-back update! wanted to throw in some awkward onghwang to make up for the lacking of in the previous chapter :)

**Jinyoung 10.03 am**

So if Minhyun hyung is dating Seongwoo hyung, does that mean I can stop pretending I’m not friends with Seongwoo hyung?

 

**Daehwi 10.03 am**

WAIT WHAT.

Bae Jinyoung hold up.

WHAT.

 

**Guanlin 10.04 am**

Oh same, Seongwoo hyung buys lunch for me sometimes.

Does this mean Minhyun hyung will too? :D

 

**Daehwi 10.04 am**

Guys what, Minhyun hyung and Seongwoo are dating???

 

**Woojin 10.04 am**

nah guanlin, minhyun is just an old fogey that uses us for our bodies :’(

hes gonna throw us away for seongwoo :’(

 

**Guanlin 10.06 am**

Oh…

 

**Minhyun 10.12 am**

NO

GUANLIN NO

WOOJIN NO

DAEHWI NO

JINYOUNG NO

I LOVE YOU ALL

AND I WILL NEVER LEAVE YOU

ESPECIALLY NOT FOR SEONGWOO

 

**Jihoon 10.12 am**

im cut

what about me

minhyun hyung your love was only pretend

messing with my feelings

 

**Daehwi 10.13 am**

Hyung, I read the article, you and Seongwoo are dating? Since when?

 

**Minhyun 10.13 am**

Nooooooo

We are not dating

Never

I hate him

I hate him with all my guts

 

**Guanlin 10.14 am**

So you won’t leave us, hyung? :D

You love us?

 

**Minhyun 10.14 am**

Yes I love you my babies

Always

And forever

 

**Guanlin 10.14 am**

Will you buy me lunch then? :D

 

**Minhyun 10.15 am**

Yesssss

Yeah

Definitely

Oui

 

Minhyun’s sitting at the table, furiously typing out variations of the word ‘yes’. Jihoon’s still opposite him, occasionally chuckling and texting, scrolling through the comments on the Messpatch article which mainly consist of people asking “whos that?”

Minhyun wants to hug him very very hard. Around his neck. Until it hurts. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that Jihoon is behind this mess. But he also doesn’t want to die an early death by trying to fight him. So he remains screen mashing, venting all his anger onto the keyboard.

He gets a notification for a new message, and swipes up to get rid of it before typing out ‘Okayyyyyy’ (with as many y’s as possible). After sending it, he realises he’s actually opened and replied to the new message instead. His heart drops when he reads the contact name.

 

**never respond never call 10.16 am**

Hi Minhyun-ssi, it’s Ong Seongwoo!

Um, would you like to meet up today?

Since we have Literature tomorrow :/

 

**Minhyun 10.16 am**

Okayyyyyy

 

**never respond never call 10.16 am**

Ah that was fast!

Sweet.

We can meet up at the library.

Or the cafe if we need to talk? :)

 

Minhyun stares in horror at his phone. He was planning on just avoiding Seongwoo until the whole Messpatch thing blew over, but he guesses Seongwoo hasn’t seen the article yet, or he’s just really weird (both options seem viable).

However he can’t just go back on his word after saying okay. He thinks back to Seongwoo’s poem about the fox, and how much he really needs some help. _I’ll meet him just once. Since I promised and all._

Minhyun ponders. The cafe and the library are too risky, with eyes and ears everywhere, so they’ll have to meet somewhere private. He looks up at Jihoon who’s covering his mouth in amusement at something on his phone, and decides that the place would definitely have to be somewhere Jihoon can’t be. Minhyun can only come to one conclusion.

 

**Minhyun 10.20 am**

Let’s meet at your apartment.

Message me your address.

3pm?

 

**never respond never call 10.20 am**

Oh.

My place?

Uh.

Okay!

 

 

 

 _It’s just a door._ He takes another deep breath, fist raised, knuckles centimetres from contact. It’s 2.59pm, and Minhyun’s been standing outside Seongwoo’s apartment for 15 minutes, mentally listing out the pros and cons of going inside. Pros: there is none. Cons: everything.

When he had decided to meet Seongwoo, it completely slipped his mind that he’d actually have to _see_ him again. In person. And this time it was him willingly going to Seongwoo, not him waiting, hoping Seongwoo wasn’t going to turn up. Seongwoo is in this apartment. Right behind this door. Waiting for _him._ Minhyun’s mind is going into overdrive.

Suddenly the door opens, and a frazzled Seongwoo almost walks into Minhyun’s fist, while dragging a smiling Daniel behind him.

“M-minhyun-ssi? What are you doing here?”

Minhyun blinks in response, his train of thought lost. _What am I doing here?_

Daniel bursts into a fit of giggles. “Guess I’ll take my leave now! See you Seongwoo-hyung!”

He slips past with a wave of his hand, leaving Seongwoo and Minhyun face-to-face, staring at each other. This is the 9am Seongwoo he’s so familiar with, the one with his hair down, wearing a ratty t-shirt, and looking completely dumbfounded. Not the different one he’d met yesterday or last week. His chest feels tight. It must be because this is the Seongwoo he’d come to hate.

“Oh shit, my phone, I lost my phone.” Seongwoo hits his forehead with his palm, scrunching his features into a look of agony. “Aargh, Daniel must have done something. Did he message you Minhyun-ssi?”

“Ah,” Minhyun’s face heats up at the realisation that he’s just fallen into another one of Jihoon’s traps. “Maybe I should go”.

“No, stay,” Seongwoo grabs Minhyun’s arm, and then immediately lets go when he flinches. “Only if you want to? I don’t mind.”

“Well, if you don’t mind...” Minhyun looks at his feet, suddenly uncertain. He feels weird. Really weird.

Seongwoo put his hand on Minhyun’s arm again and gently tugs, and his feet move involuntarily, passing through the doorway. The apartment is exactly how he imagined it to be, messy and a little dark, with shoes and bags crowding the area around the front door. The small corridor opens up to a kitchen and living area, paper strewn across all available surfaces.

“I’m sorry about the mess, I didn’t know Daniel contacted you.” Seongwoo’s hand is still on his arm, leading him to the sofa. There’s a laptop on the coffee table, and the rest of the surface is crowded with many mugs and more paper. “I was going to message you about meeting up for Literature, but then the Messpatch article came out and-” Seongwoo sits down with a sigh, and Minhyun follows. “I’m really sorry about that, I’ve only been in one drama, I didn’t think people would be interested in me.”

Minhyun shuffles awkwardly on his spot on the sofa, taking off his backpack and wondering where he should put his stuff. Seongwoo senses his hesitation and starts gathering up the paper, pushing everything to one side of the coffee table. “I’m trying to practice my lines for an upcoming audition. I just printed the same copy and put it around the apartment so I can walk around while trying to focus.”

 _Cute,_ Minhyun thinks to himself. _Wait what_. He dismisses the thought immediately, picking up one of the scripts to place his mind elsewhere.

It describes the right-hand-man of the male lead, a vice-general in the Joseon Dynasty. It’s really different from the small role in Seongwoo’s previous drama, where he was just a college sunbae. The vice-general initially opposes the two leads’ relationship, then eventually comes around. However he dies right as he gives his blessings to the couple.

“It’s intense, huh?” Seongwoo breaks the silence, gesturing to the script. “I wanted to challenge myself. Try something different.”

Minhyun remains quiet, surprised by the unexpected character.

“Oh you wouldn’t know. I basically played myself in my last drama. Like in college and stuff.” Seongwoo grins sheepishly. “For some reason people liked it?”

Minhyun wants to roll his eyes. Sure, people liked it, they liked the _character._ He’d spent a few days arguing with netizens on Pann who were trying to put forward the agenda that they could’ve removed the college sunbae and the plot would’ve been the same.

Seongwoo’s character was _necessary_ for the development of the relationship of the two leads. Shin never would have realised he was in love with Euntak, without Seongwoo’s character accidentally knocking Euntak into Shin’s arms. It just wouldn’t have worked out.

Minhyun only thinks that Seongwoo wasn’t the best person for the role. Because he’s Seongwoo.

“Uh,” Seongwoo murmurs, fumbling with his fingers as he changes the topic. “Did you get a chance to look at my stuff yet? I know you’re probably really busy with the Literature assignment yourself. It’s completely fine if you haven’t looked at it.”

Minhyun snaps out of his recollection, bending down to take his folder out of his backpack. “I looked at your most recent poem about the fox. And it’s no hassle, I’ve finished my literature assignment already.”

As he sifts through the papers in his folder, he doesn’t notice Seongwoo’s ears go red at the mention of the poem that Minhyun chose. “I fixed things like the sentence structure and grammar, but if you tell me exactly what you were trying to convey, I can help you even more.” He's still looking down, trying to find the copy he newly-typed this morning.

“Uh, well, sometimes people put on a facade? Or settle into a character that they’re familiar with?” He hears Seongwoo pause, and then his voice lowers. “But they really don’t need to be like that. They just need to take the first step themselves.”

 _Okay._ Minhyun frowns in contemplation at the corrected poem he’s just taken out. It sounds kind of personal from the way Seongwoo is explaining it. He wonders whether Seongwoo is writing about himself or someone else, but when he looks up to ask, Seongwoo is staring at him. His lips are slightly parted. And Minhyun suddenly realises that there’s no table separating them like before.

“Ah, Seongwoo,” he hears himself saying, finding himself completely lost.

“Oh. That’s the first time you’ve said my name like that.” Seongwoo’s lips spread into a tentative smile, and then he adds, “I guess we’re dropping the honorifics?”

Minhyun pulls his gaze away, eyes wandering. “I… guess?”

It seems like Seongwoo wants to say something else, but they’re interrupted by the sound of a phone ringing from far away.

Seongwoo closes his eyes in frustration. “That’s my ringtone. Stupid Daniel must’ve hidden it in his bedroom.”

He gets up to search and Minhyun follows, for a reason that hasn’t yet formulated in his mind. He hovers outside the doorway as Seongwoo begins pulling apart piles of clothes. He can’t bring himself to step foot inside the impossibly messy room though, so instead he wanders over to the one opposite, which must belong to Seongwoo.

It’s relatively mess-free, save for the few scripts lying around. He sets off picking up the pieces of paper ( _Seongwoo’s going to have to clean it up anyway when he sleeps,_ Minhyun reassures himself), dragging his fingers along the top of the dresser, across the mirror, along the window sill, and finally resting at Seongwoo’s desk. Minhyun is surprised that they aren’t coated with dust afterwards.

Above the desk is a corkboard full of photos, cutouts and scraps of paper, and Minhyun recognises Daniel in most of them. There’s also Jaehwan who (loudly) sits with Seongwoo during Literature, older sunbaes Sungwoon and Jisung, and (Minhyun narrows his eyes) all of his dongsaengs except Daehwi. Minhyun makes a mental promise to pay extra attention to Daehwi next time he sees the younger.

A little orange fox doodled in the corner of one of the cutouts catches his eye, and at first glance it’s from the annual university Literature magazine. He bends down to read the name of the poem: _‘The fleeting nature of’_ , and his breath gets caught at the familiarity of the title. Sure enough, the words ‘ _Written by Hwang Minhyun_ ’ are printed underneath in small bold text.  

His brain whirls trying to process the information, but nothing computes. It should be him who’s (a little bit) familiar with Seongwoo, not the other way round. Doesn’t Seongwoo just know him as the smart, unsociable guy who supposedly hates doughnuts?

“Aha, found it!” Panic rises in his chest at the sound of Seongwoo’s voice and Minhyun turns to autopilot, fast-walking to the living room and landing on the sofa. Seongwoo comes in right at that time, triumphantly holding the phone up. “Minhyun-ah, it was in his jelly packet!”

His mind is still blank, but his body automatically cringes at the apparent stickiness of it.

“Sorry about that, Daniel said his phone was glitched so I couldn’t use his to call and find it.” Seongwoo settles back on the couch, examining the phone which has clear a gummy bear outline on the screen. “Jokes on him, because he just called me saying he forgot his keys, and guess who’s not opening the door.”

There’s a pounding noise and a muted whine, “Seongwoo-hyung I’m sorry, let me in!” Then a pause. “Minhyun-ssi, I have chicken! It’s going to get cold!”

“Ah, well there’s no harm if he has food.” Minhyun doesn’t move as Seongwoo gets up to let in a flustered Daniel, who rushes into the kitchen to start unpacking the chicken. “We should eat now while it’s still fresh! Minhyun-ssi come on!”

The two devour the chicken, Seongwoo and Daniel teasing each other with whatever comes to mind. “I saw your browser history, multiple Google searches of Park Jihoon is questionable and disturbing.” “They were playing a re-run of your drama in the chicken shop, I swear you almost knocked out the poor girl’s teeth.”

Then Daniel turns to Minhyun with a grin. “I’m sorry for tricking you Minhyun-ssi. This hyung never would have messaged you otherwise. It’s because-” Seongwoo stuffs a chicken leg into Daniel’s mouth and he starts gagging. “There, there Daniel. You must be hungry because you’re cooking up lies.” Seongwoo flashes a smile and Minhyun can’t help but nod.

They finish up the rest of the chicken and Daniel leaves to his room with a wink directed to no one. When Minhyun returns to the sofa, he can’t shake off the layer of unease settling in his stomach.

He stands back up. “Now that you’ve explained your poem to me, I think I’ll revise your work at home.” Minhyun hurriedly packs his bag before Seongwoo can react. “See you tomorrow at Literature, and tell Daniel thanks for the chicken.” The door closes with a wave of his hand and a flurry of his coat, and Seongwoo is left alone in the living room, holding the empty box of chicken, stunned to silence.

 

 

**Minhyun 5.58 pm**

You’re all liars.

I still love you all though.

But I especially love Daehwi.

 

**Daehwi 5.58 pm**

What’s up, hyung?

 

**Jihoon 5.59 pm**

minhyun hyung was at seongwoo’s place

doing the dirty

 

**Minhyun 5.59 pm**

PARK JIHOON

 

**Jihoon 5.59 pm**

work of tutoring seongwoo hyung

what is it, hyung? :)

 

**Minhyun 6.00 pm**

...

Anyway

Tell me honestly

Has Seongwoo mentioned me to any of you before?

 

**Unknown 6.00 pm**

Ayeeee just in time!

 

**Woojin 6.00 pm**

finally hyung you’ve been way too careful not to mention seongwoo after 6 pm

bottoms up!

 

**Minhyun 6.01 pm**

Um who is that?

 

**Unknown 6.01 pm**

It’s Daniel! I’m rooting for you and Seongwoo, fighting!

 

**Minhyun 6.01 pm**

What

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello!
> 
> the updating schedule is non-existent right now, i pretty much update when the chapter is completed sooo i can't make any promises to when the next chapter will come out! :p but it'll definitely be in less than a week. 
> 
> they'll finally start doing university/college things (yes, this is a college au!) and the rest of seongwoo's friends jaehwan, sungwoon and jisung will be introduced :) 
> 
> see you! <3
> 
> *i edited a bit at the end that seemed too rushed. dont post at 3am guys!


	6. secrets

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Seongwoo has no idea what's going in Minhyun's head. Jihoon and Daniel have to re-evaluate their plans

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> when you remove minhyun's internal breakdowns, he's very different in seongwoo's eyes...

**Jihoon 8.07 am**

what happened last night

minhyun hyung was really weird when he came back

weirder than usual

 

**Daniel 8.15 am**

Oh um

I locked myself out

So I’m not sure

 

**Jihoon 8.15 am**

huh

you had one job

 

**Daniel 8.16 am**

I’m so sorry :(

Oh wait

Oh my god

Wait

Until Seongwoo leaves for Literature

 

**Jihoon 8.16 am**

this better be good

 

**Daniel 8.20 am**

I found it!

Seongwoo usually films himself when he’s practicing his lines

So there’s always cameras set up in the apartment

 

**Jihoon 8.20 am**

im not sure whether i should be happy or concerned

 

**Daniel 8.21 am**

Haha :)

Well they’re only on when he’s practicing!

Oh

 

**Jihoon 8.23 am**

what is it???

 

**Daniel 8.23 am**

It’s on a SD card

So you’ll have to come over

If you want to watch

 

**Jihoon 8.25 am**

if you try anything shifty i swear

 

 

It’s 8.30 am and Seongwoo’s the only one in the lecture theatre. Usually when he comes in there’s always about 60 people, so the theatre looks strangely big without the other 59. He also doesn’t know how to turn the lights on, so he’s sitting in dimness, watching dust float in the filtered sunlight from a lone window.

He twiddles his thumbs awkwardly, then lets out a big yawn, stretching one arm out and using the other to cover his mouth. Something about his meeting with Minhyun yesterday had made him feel uneasy, so he had stayed up last night trying to figure out if he had done something out of place.  If today was any other day, he would’ve slept in. But he really wants to see the man that he’d enrolled in Literature for.

The door opens with a whine, and Seongwoo perks up as the man in question appears, impeccably fresh like always in his dark blue coat. Minhyun is busy slowly closing the door to prevent it from banging shut, so when he turns around, he jumps, wide-eyed, having not expected anyone there, let alone Seongwoo.

He smiles to himself. Shock was one of the new expressions he had seen grace Minhyun’s face, and Seongwoo had decided it was his favourite. The fleeting moment of vulnerability reminds him of when they had first met years ago and why he had grown so fond of him in the first place.

“Minhyun-ah, good morning!” Minhyun’s features settle back into familiar apathy, and he purposely walks past Seongwoo’s waving on the first row, making his way over to the furthest seat at the back.

 _So far everything seems normal._ He gives Minhyun about a minute to settle into his seat and start unpacking, before he rushes to the back and plops down next to him, effectively entrapping him in the row. Minhyun’s face falls when he realises he’s now stuck between Seongwoo and the wall.

“Minhyun-ah, are you avoiding me?” Seongwoo grins, feeling a surge of confidence after they had agreed to stop using honorifics.

“Ah, no, Seongwoo.” Minhyun turns to look him right in the eyes, and his heart stops.

Seongwoo can’t help but swallow the lump in his throat and Minhyun’s eyes flicker down to his Adam’s apple, and then back to his face. He feels his ears warm from the intense scrutiny. Minhyun always looks at him as if he’s horribly offended, but it’s been a long time since he’s seen it up this close.

Then Minhyun’s lips curl into a forced smile, and Seongwoo falters. It’s another expression that has only started appearing, as if Minhyun is urging himself to be nice. Seongwoo would rather Minhyun smile at him the way he smiles at Jihoon and Woojin, not like what he’s making himself do now.

He lowers his eyes, feeling apprehensive, and his gaze rests on the coffee stain on Minhyun’s sleeve. “Ah, you didn’t end up cleaning it away?”

“Oh, um, that’s...” Seongwoo looks up to Minhyun’s brow furrowed, lips pursed, words fumbled.

All of a sudden the door bangs open with a screech, and Jaehwan saunters in laughing, “Hyung! I heard you came early-” he pauses mid-sentence, scanning the two sitting together at the very back of the room. “Oh, I see.” Jaehwan smirks, wiggling his eyebrows. “Carry on.”

Instead of leaving, Jaehwan sits at the front row, glancing back every couple of seconds, teeth showing. Seongwoo gives him the best dirty look he can muster, eyes wide and lips pressed together. Then before Seongwoo can react, Jaehwan pulls out his phone to snap a few photos, laughing hysterically as he maneuvers his fingers to send the picture to however many group chats he’s in.

Seongwoo groans inwardly, turning to Minhyun to apologise. However Minhyun has the biggest grin on his face, which then becomes full-blown laughter. He’s momentarily entranced, and then he’s stumped for words. First Daniel, and then Jaehwan? Why is he the only one who gets a fake smile?

When Minhyun realises he’s staring at him, the glee on his face disappears and he starts busying himself with his notebook instead. People start trickling into the theatre, and Seongwoo notices a few whispering and pointing to them at the back. If Minhyun also realises, he doesn’t seem to care, already inscribing the week and date into a blank page.

The Literature lecturer arrives, a balding man with thick glasses and an even thicker accent. Usually Seongwoo talks with Jaehwan in the last row, or otherwise stares at Minhyun’s back, so he can never really understand what he’s saying. Like right now, he’s clearly saying “Yaytes” when Minhyun is writing down ‘Yeats’.

“I can’t believe his pronunciation, why does he say it as ‘Yaytes’ when it’s ‘Yeets’?” Seongwoo says matter-of-factly.

Minhyun turns to him, obviously triggered. His usual expression has turned from ‘don’t you dare touch me’ to ‘you killed everything I’ve ever loved and dreamed’ and Seongwoo gulps.

“No, Seongwoo, he’s pronouncing it correctly. That’s how you pronounce Yeats. It’s Yeats. First Shackspeare and now Yeets. Who’s it going to be next, huh, Seongwoo?”

He’s momentarily stunned at Minhyun’s outburst, and then he can’t help but laugh at this fire he’s never seen before. He laughs so hard his eyes squeeze shut, face probably contorted into something he’d regret later. When he finally opens them, everyone’s looking at him, and he puts on a practiced sheepish expression.

“Mr Ong Seongwoo.” The lecturer (who’s nameless in his head, so he finds it kind of creepy that the old man knows his full name) has his arms crossed and gaze searing. “I see you’re not late to my class for once.”

Seongwoo nods exuberantly, feeling his stomach sink. “But since it seems you’ve decided to be so... passionate today, why don’t you read out what you’ve completed so far for next week’s Literature assignment?”

_Crap._

“Or perhaps, if you don’t have anything yet, you would like to leave the room?”

His face heats up and he begins gathering his pens, when suddenly he feels a hand on his forearm. Seongwoo looks to his side, and Minhyun’s features have morphed to unmistakable concern. His heart flutters at his softened expression, and he catches himself wondering if Minhyun no longer hates him.

“Here Seongwoo,” he whispers, pushing a piece of paper into his hand.

“ _A Fox Leaves His Home,”_ he reads out loud, surprised. Minhyun squeezes his arm, letting his fingers linger, and reassures him with an “It’s yours.” Seongwoo nods in an attempt to clear his head.

 

_“Snow falls like tears_

_And when the fox has no one but himself,_

_It dries like the desert._

 

_Mountains span like secrets_

_And when the fox ventures outside,_

_Thoughts are no longer whispers._

 

_Fear is like a blanket_

_But when the fox begins his journey,_

_It’s a warmth he never really needed.”_

 

There’s silence for a good few seconds. And then a collective ‘woahhh’ and some scattered clapping, mainly from Jaehwan.

“That was… unexpected. Good work Seongwoo. Make sure to pay attention in class next time though.” He turns back to the PowerPoint slide, continuing his lecture about Yeats.

Seongwoo is more amazed by how Minhyun could derive a poem from his mess of words. When he turns to thank his saviour however, he doesn’t expect the iciness radiating from his glare. He’s always known that Minhyun hates him, but his expression has changed so drastically his heart clenches.

Seongwoo swallows, briefly wondering if Minhyun has already seen through his facade.

 

 

Jihoon’s just about to knock when the door bursts open, and he calmly registers the shock on Daniel’s face.

“Jihoon-ssi! You’re actually here!”

Jihoon scoffs and rolls his eyes, pushing past Daniel to enter the apartment. “Well from the amount of times you opened the door in the last few minutes, you better have hoped so.”

Daniel shuffles shyly behind him, rubbing the back of his head. “You saw that?”

“And videoed it as well.” Jihoon turns his head and lifts his phone up with a grin, relishing in Daniel’s expression of dismay. He’s taken a liking to this change in pace, to tease someone who takes everything he says so seriously.  

“Now where are the creeper videos?” Jihoon looks around the apartment and wrinkles his nose. “On second thought, I think I just solved why Minhyun-hyung was acting weird.”

“Oh! Why?”

“You literally have empty boxes of chicken bones on the kitchen counter.”

Daniel’s face reddens. “Dammit, Seongwoo was meant to throw those out this when he left.”

While Daniel busies himself with the trash can, Jihoon sits on the floor in front of the coffee table, navigating Daniel’s laptop. There’s a bunch of SD cards next to it, and he sets about trying each one.

“Hey, none of these SD cards work.” Daniel raises an eyebrow and makes his way over to sit next to Jihoon, but he awkwardly changes course to the couch at the younger’s subtle head shake.

“Try that one.” Daniel points from behind at a blue and red card.

“Okay…” Jihoon pulls it out in frustration when nothing happens on the laptop.

“No, you’re meant to wait for it to install.”

“Why do you need to wait for it to install? Shouldn’t something pop up like when you put in a USB?”

“I don’t use Seongwoo-hyung’s cameras so these SD cards haven’t been set up yet on my laptop. Try it again but wait a little bit longer.” Daniel leans forward patiently with a smile, propping his chin up with one hand.

Jihoon sighs, inserting the card back into the laptop. After a minute a window appears indicating the start of the installation process. “See, it’s worki-” Jihoon turns to glower at him and Daniel immediately shuts up.

A few videos pop up in the storage, and Jihoon comes to the conclusion that it’s from a camera located in Seongwoo’s bedroom.

“I-I don’t think Minhyun-ssi would’ve gone here.”

Jihoon turns to Daniel with an innocent smile. “Well we won’t know until we check, young one.”

 _So he was doing the dirty._ He starts skipping through the video dated yesterday with a glint in his eye. “Come on, I know something’s here.”

As he nears the end, Jihoon suddenly feels something warm on his back. His face flushes when an arm appears over his shoulder, and there’s a softness on his right hand. By reflex, he flings his head backwards, smacking into something hard.

“Ow…”

Jihoon whirls around, wide-eyed. “Fuck you’re bleeding!”

Daniel’s sprawled on the couch, face scrunched up in pain, blood starting to pool at the bottom of his nose. Jihoon panics, searching for anything to stop it, but there’s nothing within reach, so he decides to bunch up the sleeve of his hoodie and stuff it under Daniel’s nostrils.

He guides Daniel’s head to the armrest, sleeve still pressed to his face. Daniel pinches his nose bridge, gently pushing Jihoon’s hand away. “I-I think I can take it from here. Just check the video, I paused it because I saw something.”

Jihoon bites his lip, cheeks hot, and sure enough the video is frozen at Minhyun bending down to look at something on the wall. His voice cracks when he realises, “Ah, he’s here.”

“That’s great.” Daniel utters weakly. “Seongwoo’s room is on the left.”

He heads off, heart hammering in his chest, and he notices the corkboard on the far wall of the room. Scanning the photos and scraps of paper, he sees it. Minhyun’s poem about snow.

“Uh, Daniel?” Jihoon calls out. “Did Seongwoo know Minhyun before Literature?”

“I don’t think so?” Daniel responds from the other room. “I mean, he only started telling me about Minhyun this year?”

He furrows his brow. He knows that Minhyun’s been obsessing over Seongwoo since before Jihoon even started university, concluding this from the various complaints he’s heard from him over the past two years. But he swears Seongwoo’s only ever been in close proximity with Minhyun recently. He walks back in confusion, where Daniel’s now propped himself up with a tissue stuffed in his nose.

“Seongwoo has Minhyun’s poem stuck up on his wall. And it’s from a magazine last year.”

Daniel’s mouth forms an ‘o’. “Maybe Seongwoo did know Minhyun from before. Or maybe it’s a coincidence.”

“There’s no such thing as coincidences.” Jihoon drops onto the couch, head in his hands as he realises that the scope of his plan is bigger than he expected. “And if they did know each other, it would’ve been before any of us started university, so we wouldn’t know anything about it.”

“Jihoon-ssi, hang on.” He can feel Daniel patting his back very slowly, and he swallows the remark at the tip of his tongue when he looks up and sees his smile. “I think I may know some people who might be able to help.”

 

 

**Daniel 12.31 pm**

Hi Hyung!

How have you been?

 

**Jisung 12.32 pm**

Hmph

Finally acknowledging the grandpa I see

 

**Daniel 12.32 pm**

Haha

Let me buy you guys lunch! I need to ask you some things

About Seongwoo hyung

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for all the unanswered questions ;.;  
> spoiler: (they have met before, and minhyun may not have known...) 
> 
> *also please imagine that the poetry is good hahaha  
> and yeats is pronounced like 'yayts' in case you didn't know! (not yeets :p)
> 
> AND minhyun burning his own ship on x-con tonight like WHAT IS LIFE ...


	7. before our time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Minhyun decides on a new plan. A very, very smart plan.

_Seongwoo._

Minhyun swears everywhere he goes he hears the same name _._ And it’s getting on his nerves. As he’s waiting in line for a cup of tea. _Seongwoo._ When he’s washing his hands in the bathroom. _Seongwoo._ Right now while he’s walking down the hallway. _That’s him. He’s the one dating Ong Seongwoo._

Jihoon had convinced him that Seongwoo wasn’t famous enough for people to care about his love life. But after Seongwoo, for some reason, sat next to him in the Literature lecture, and terribly embarrassed himself, their supposed relationship suddenly became everyone’s new obsession.  

When he tried getting sympathy from his favourite dongsaeng, Daehwi offered the very unhelpful advice of “Hyung, just tell them you’re not dating.” He can’t do that though because it isn’t that simple.

Somehow Seongwoo had known him before Literature this year. Minhyun, however, can’t recall a thing. The whole situation is very strange because meeting a person as dumb, messy and bad at acting as Seongwoo should be pretty memorable. But he thinks he’s figured it out.

Ong Seongwoo must be a stalker.

The cutout of his snow poem, the random coffee ‘date’, and getting him to come to his apartment (okay, that might’ve been Minhyun’s fault, but _still_ ).

And Minhyun, as the person being stalked, decides to keep a very close eye on him. Like Machiavelli said, _keep your friends close but your enemies closer._ He has a new plan, and the first step? No one’s going to be breaking up with anyone anytime soon.

 

Minhyun’s internal breakdown is interrupted by a familiar ring of laughter, “Minhyunnie! Long time no see!”

“Hyung!” He turns around excitedly at the sound of his former roommate, scooping Sungwoon up in a hug, all thoughts of a certain somebody gone from his mind.

Or not. “What’s this I hear about you dating!”

He swears that people in the corridor stop and stare. Minhyun pulls back from the embrace, but despite it all, he can’t help but grin. Because of Sungwoon. Definitely not because of Seongwoo. “We haven’t seen each other in two years and that’s the first thing you say to me, hyung?”

“Well my former roommate who used to have the love life of a newborn baby somehow got a boyfriend. So you betcha that’s the first thing I’m going to say to you!” Sungwoon raises his eyebrows, the apples of his cheeks full. “And with Ong Seongwoo no less, oohhh.”

This time Minhyun physically facepalms himself at the mention of Seongwoo’s name, and he lowers his voice. “I’ll tell you a secret. We’re not actually dating.”

Lowering his voice to match Minhyun’s, the older smirks. “And that’s why you were muttering Seongwoo’s name right before I called out to you.”

He racks his mind trying to think of a plausible excuse. When Minhyun was in first year, Sungwoon tried to set him up on multiple blind dates, strongly believing in quantity over quality. Obviously they all failed because Minhyun has _standards_.

 _Wait a moment…_ Sungwoon was in one of Seongwoo’s group photos, right?

“Are you friends with Seongwoo?”

Surprise crosses the older’s face, and he furrows his brow. “Geez, it’s been so long. Well I can’t say we’re friends, we just met before through Jisung-sunbae. You know, the guy in charge of the theatre club?”

Minhyun’s chest tightens. The theatre club?

“Oh oops, forgot those words were on the blacklist. I mean, I did see him a few times, and he seemed like a pretty decent guy.” Sungwoon pats his shoulder, giving him a wink. “So if you’re wondering whether you made the right choice, I give him my blessings.”

Minhyun closes his eyes in frustration. “There’s nothing to give blessings for, hyung.” Maybe he should rethink his plans. His friends are never going to let him live this down.

“Just accept your hot boyfriend, Minhyunnie, you need to learn how to stop overthinking things and start screwing them instead.” Minhyun tries to land a punch on Sungwoon’s shoulder, but he just bounds away, laughing.

“You can’t say that when you’re happily together with Taehyun-hyung! At least he knows how to dance and stuff! Seongwoo just knows how to mess up lines!”

Sungwoon shrugs dramatically, calling out from down the hallway. “I had my heyday! Now it’s yours. Just give him a chance, Minhyun. Live on the wild side for once!”

 

 

**Minhyun 4.32 pm**

Hi

Seongwoo

This is m

 

**never respond never call 4.32 pm**

Oh hi Minhyun!!!

 

**Minhyun 4.32 pm**

Hi

I mean  

 

Minhyun stares at his phone, wondering how the hell he’s already messed this up. He’s a literature major for goodness’ sake.

 

**Minhyun 4.33 pm**

Night food

 

**never respond never call 4.33 pm**

Ah you want to eat dinner together????

 

**Minhyun 4.35 pm**

Yes

 

 

_The blue button-down or the striped silk shirt?_

Minhyun’s standing in front of his closet, trying to decide between either one. His bed already has four other shirts discarded on it. Also a few pants, and a scarf he has been debating whether or not to wear for the past ten minutes.

“Hyung, are you going somewhere?”

Jihoon’s standing at the door, arms crossed, neck tilted to one side.

“Nowhere you should be concerned with.” Minhyun doesn’t want to meet his eyes, because he really doesn’t want to tell Jihoon that he’s going out with Seongwoo. He’s pretty sure that it would result in the night not simply ending with dinner.

Jihoon steps into the room and he braces himself. Usually Jihoon in his room means one of two things: he needs to observe Minhyun ‘for psych homework reasons’ or Minhyun is going to be on the floor within the minute. He’s preparing himself for the latter.

He tenses when Jihoon takes a step towards him. _Wait, I’m the hyung. I shouldn’t be letting him bully me like this. I should be standing up for myself. I have rights too._

“I strongly object to this-” Minhyun gasps when Jihoon pounces forward, tightly wrapping his arms around his waist.

“Hyungggggggggggggg.” The biggest wave of confusion washes over Minhyun. Did Park Jihoon just do aegyo?

“Who are you, and what did you do with my Jihoon!” He tries to pull the younger away from him by his shoulders, but he stays glued to his side.

Jihoon stares up at him, bottom lip jutting out. “Hyung, how do I say sorry? I feel so bad.”

Minhyun’s stunned. He never thought this day would actually come. But of course, even the devil feels remorse sometimes. No mere human should be the subject of Satan’s plots, and Minhyun’s been on the receiving end one too many times.

“Well I think you can start with-”

“I hurt him really bad, hyung, there was blood and everything.”

_What? Did Jihoon just kill someone???_

Minhyun’s mind races. “Oh, w-where’s the body? Ah, j-just explain everything to me from the beginning Jihoon-ah. Who was it? Who did you hurt?”

“Daniel, it was Daniel, hyung!” Jihoon wails, applying more force than Minhyun was prepared for, and he loses balance, crashing backwards into the closet.

“Kang Daniel? You killed Kang Daniel? For liking you?”

There’s silence for a few moments, and then Jihoon starts shaking violently. _Holy shit, is Jihoon possessed?_ Minhyun wishes he’d just chosen the striped silk and he would’ve long been gone. Then Jihoon looks up at him, face contorted in glee, the indecipherable noises now decoded as laughter.

“You read way too much, hyung.” Jihoon gets up, dusting himself off. “Are you going out for dinner? Let me guess, with Seongwoo-hyung?”

“I’m not going to say anything,  I don’t want to see you and Daniel at the restaurant later.”

“So you are going out for dinner.” Jihoon raises an eyebrow, one corner of his lip curled upwards.

Minhyun sighs inwardly at the fact that he just fell for another one of Jihoon’s tricks. “Well, you’ll be happy to know that I’ve decided to give Seongwoo a chance. So you and Daniel can stop your plotting or whatever.”

Jihoon stares at him, surprised. “Oh you realised hyung? About the theatre club?”

“What about it?” He frowns at the mention of the club he really didn’t want to recall. “I know I told you to stay away from it when you were in first year. Wait did Daniel try to make you join?”

The younger shakes his head with a smile. “Ah, no hyung, never mind, Daniel didn’t make me do anything.” Then Jihoon pouts, features scrunched up cutely. “He never makes me do anything.”

As much as Minhyun would like to stay and entertain this new and improved Jihoon (with feelings!), he’s just realised that he’s not going to be early at the restaurant anymore if he leaves now. Scrambling to his feet, he grabs the scarf and rushes out the door.

“How badly do you want to apologise, Jihoon?” He calls out, pulling on his shoes. “Just focus on that!”

 

 

Minhyun winds the scarf tighter around his chin, suddenly feeling nervous. He’s standing outside the restaurant, a few minutes late, and he can see Seongwoo already sitting at a table, scrolling through his phone. He looks nice again today, hair neatly styled up and a white dress shirt. Minhyun looks down at his own striped shirt and sighs. _Oh well, it’s not like I’m trying to impress him or anything._

When he enters the restaurant, Seongwoo immediately looks up, face stretching into a smile. Minhyun returns it politely.

“I’m sorry for being late, I was a bit held up.” Minhyun takes off his dark blue coat, and he swears Seongwoo’s gaze runs down the stripes on his silk shirt. He feels the tips of his ears grow warm.

“That’s a new top.”

_Fuck, should’ve chosen the button-up._

“Yeah…”

He sits awkwardly opposite Seongwoo, taking a look around the restaurant. It’s all dark timber, red carpet, chrome and warm lights. There’s a bar on one side, shelves lined with shiny bottles, and wine glasses hanging from hooks. The serving staff are dressed even fancier than he is. When Seongwoo suggested a restaurant, he hadn’t expected it to be like _this_.

“Ah, I just messaged you.” Seongwoo holds up his phone. “Something big must’ve happened, I don’t think you’ve ever been late before in your life?”

Minhyun freezes. Wasn’t Seongwoo being a bit too obvious with his stalkerness? He takes his phone out of his pocket, and there’s a few notifications from different chats.

 

**Jihoon 6.56 pm**

psa minhyun is having a dinner date with seongwoo

 

**Jinyoung 6.56 pm**

Finally!

 

**Guanlin 6.57 pm**

Is that why Minhyun hyung still hasn’t bought food for me yet :(

 

**Daehwi 6.58 pm**

Don’t worry Guanlin, it’s just fake.

 

**Woojin 6.58 pm**

jihoon, tell me you’re in the restaurant too, please!!!

 

**Jihoon 6.59 pm**

thought i would leave him alone for the night

 

Minhyun smiles at the messages, especially at the fact that Jihoon has no plans to ruin his evening.

“Hm, did something funny happen?”

Seongwoo leans forward, craning his neck, and Minhyun’s about to show him the notifications on his lock screen, when he realises they’re detrimental to his plan. He quickly scrolls down, past the messages, but Seongwoo ends up frowning nevertheless.

 

**never respond never call 7.15 pm**

Hi Minhyun!! I’m at the restaurant now, just wondering where you are?

 

“That’s an… interesting contact name?”

His eyes widen, and the warmth in his ears grow hotter. “I-I-”

Luckily Minhyun is saved by the waiter, who stays there hovering after giving them the menus. Minhyun’s jaw drops at the price of the bread alone. The amount he gets from scholarships and competition winnings definitely won’t justify this one meal.

“I’ll get the steak. And a red wine?” Seongwoo closes his menu, looking over at Minhyun.

“Um, I’ll get the bread. And water.” He stares at the price, not daring to make eye contact with anyone.

“He’s just joking, he’ll get the same as me.”

Minhyun’s about to open his mouth in protest, but the waiter lets out a forced laugh, taking the menus, and then whisks away.

“I’m picking up the bill, so don’t worry about it Minhyun-ah. Everyone in the drama got a bonus because it did so well.”

Minhyun wants to say, ‘ _And you’re going to spend it on me?’_

His brain however tries to justify the situation, concluding that people only pay for other’s expensive meals if they’re really in a relationship. But Minhyun hasn’t started his plan of _‘date-Seongwoo-to-keep-an-eye-on-him’_ yet.

So instead he says, “You don’t even know we’re meant to be dating.”

Seongwoo’s mouth opens in shock, and he just stares at Minhyun as if he’s seeing an extraterrestrial lifeform.

 

_Shit. Shit shit shit shit._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> dumb minhyun is back! 
> 
> hope you all had a lovely week <3


	8. the act

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> minhyun is just a big whole mess

“Minhyun,” Seongwoo’s voice is slightly pitched, his words phrased carefully. “Is this a date? Are we… together?”

Minhyun doesn’t register Seongwoo’s question at first, too occupied with cursing at himself for his own remark.

“I’m sorry if I was being dense the whole time,” Seongwoo continues, and Minhyun snaps out of it, meeting his gaze. “But now that I know, and so there’s no more confusion, I have feelings for you too.”

_‘You don’t even know we’re meant to be dating.'_

_‘I have feelings for you too.’_

“Oh,” is all Minhyun can get out. He wants to say something, to explain that he didn’t mean it that way, but he’s suddenly at a loss for words. It feels like someone’s holding him under water, and there’s no way to go up.

Seongwoo continues, a grin stretching out on his face. “No wonder you’ve been looking at me like I’m an idiot! I should’ve realised after you asked me out for that second date at the library and then helped me out with Literature. Daniel’s right, I really am dumb. We were going out this whole time and I had no idea.”

Rationally, the best course of action is to stop Seongwoo right there, simply tell him he only meant to help Seongwoo out with Literature, and nothing more. But instead his lips involuntarily curl at Seongwoo’s embarrassment.

“Ah everything makes sense now. You must’ve been so mad at me, you even changed my contact name in your phone.” Seongwoo returns Minhyun’s smile shyly and then begins to slowly shake his head. “I even thought you hated me or something.”

Minhyun automatically responds with a chuckle, but then catches himself, and swallows drily. Something’s pulling him back, preventing him from completely rebutting Seongwoo. In an ideal scenario, he would’ve just said, ‘Yes that’s right. I do hate you. Goodbye forever’, but there’s many other factors in play here as well. Like the fact that Seongwoo is a stalker. And that Minhyun was technically the one who messaged Seongwoo out for dinner in the first place.

His chest tightens. This was pretty much his fault- if he hadn’t decided that he needed to keep an eye on Seongwoo, he wouldn’t have gotten himself into this mess in the first place. Minhyun can’t think of a way to solve this. He’s not cut out for plotting alone. He needs a mastermind.

Hurriedly getting up, he directs a “Excuse me for a second, I just need to use the bathroom” to Seongwoo’s confused face. He locks himself into a cubicle and pulls out his phone, taking a deep breath.

  


**Minhyun 7.26 pm**

Crap it stinks why did I do that

 

**Jihoon 7.26 pm**

what are you on about hyung

how’s the date? going well?

why are you messaging me right now

 

**Minhyun 7.27 pm**

It’s not a date Jihoon

Anyway I need help

I did something dumb

 

**Jihoon 7.27 pm**

well i would be more surprised if you did something smart

what’s up hyung how can i help?

 

**Minhyun 7.27 pm**

You know how much I dislike Seongwoo right

 

**Jihoon 7.28 pm**

… sure

 

**Minhyun 7.28 pm**

Long story short

I did some things

And now I think Seongwoo just confessed to me

?

???

?????

 

**Jihoon 7.28 pm**

hyung, first of all calm down

pick up my call

 

Minhyun’s starting to feel a bit light-headed and his chest aches. Thumb trembling, he misses the ‘accept’ button on the screen a few times before finally pressing it.

“Hyung. Minhyun-hyung. Hey, hey, listen to me. I need you to calm down first, okay?”

Minhyun nods weakly at Jihoon’s voice, closing his eyes, his breath caught.

“I know it stinks hyung, but take some deep breaths. Breathe through your nose,” Minhyun takes one big whiff of the various bathroom smells, “and breathe out through your mouth.” Somehow the scent of disinfectant momentarily clears his mind.

“Jihoon. I’m in the bathroom right now. I panicked and left Seongwoo at the table.”

“I know hyung. Daniel’s actually in the restaurant right now, but he can’t get to you without being seen. He says Seongwoo looks a bit confused, but otherwise happy, so don’t worry about his reaction, okay?”

“Daniel’s in there? Wait what? I thought you were so apologetic about hitting him that you couldn’t even talk to him?”

“I might have slightly over-exaggerated, but don’t worry about it. Hyung, what do you mean by ‘some things’? What exactly did you do?”

Minhyun leans his arms on his knees, everything he’s done and thought about flooding back. It all sounds kind of childish, now that he’s trying to find a way to put it in words.

“Seongwoo, he, I thought he only asked me out for coffee so he could get my help for Literature. But I guess not since he just confessed to me?” His face warms as he recalls Seongwoo’s grin.

“Anyway I was kind of mad and decided that the best way to get back at him was to pretend to be civil, and then suddenly take it all back. But, I can’t.”

Minhyun sighs and buries his face in his arms. “I can’t reject him. He just, he looked so happy. Jihoon what should I do?”

There’s silence for a few moments.

“Hyung. I know it’s hard, and you haven’t realised it yourself, but later, after today, you need to figure some things out. So right now, the easiest and best thing to do is to go out there, act like you like Seongwoo back, and enjoy your date, okay?”

_It’s not a date._

Suddenly Minhyun straightens, his mind racing. Well for him, it’s not a date, but for Seongwoo it now is. Jihoon is right. He has to take responsibility for the mess he’s created.

“Ah, Jihoon! Okay! I’m going to do it. I’ll go back and pretend.” Minhyun exhales, a smile forming on his lips. “Thank you for your help. You can tell Daniel to leave now if he wants. I think I’ll be fine.”

“Ok, hyung. Just remember, enjoy yourself.”

Minhyun quickly ends the call, hurrying back to the table. The food and drinks have already arrived, and Seongwoo’s face lights up when he sits back down.

“Did you eat something bad today?”

He widens his eyes and quickly shakes his head. “No! I just had to make a phone call real quick.”

Seongwoo chuckles with a knowing expression. “You don’t need to lie to me, I figured it all out.”

Minhyun’s heart drops. _No way, did he-_

“That’s why you wanted to order bread and water. Your stomach must have been upset the whole day!” Seongwoo takes a sip of his wine, smiling into the cup. “Even with food poisoning you asked me out for dinner.”

Minhyun can’t help but laugh. _He’s literally so dumb._

“No, no.” Minhyun picks up his cutlery and stabs into the steak, sawing a piece off and stuffing it in his mouth. “Look, I’m fine alright? No food poisoning in sight.” _Damn, this steak is good._

Seongwoo, however, is looking at him mortified.

“I really don’t have food poisoning!”

“Hwang Minhyun. Did you just laugh at me? Like actually, genuinely, laugh at me?”

_What? I laugh at all the dumb things Seongwoo does all the time._

Seongwoo raises his hands up over his head, with the most annoying, brightest expression Minhyun’s seen so far, and calls out, “Today is the best day ever!”

Everyone in the restaurant turns to look at them, but Minhyun doesn’t care. He feels it bubbling, and his eyes crinkle up as the laugh erupts from his belly. Opposite him, Seongwoo makes little ‘whoo’ noises, and Minhyun laughs even harder.

_Wow, things are so much easier when you’re pretending to like someone. I should’ve done this sooner._

They start eating, but Minhyun is distracted by Seongwoo who keeps giggling at every bite.

“What? Did something happen?”

Seongwoo looks up at him, caught like a deer in headlights, but then he grins again.

“You’re not mad at me anymore right? You should change my name on your phone.”

He ponders whether he should be nice or not, but then decides against it. Technically, liking someone doesn’t constitute succumbing to their every whim, and he usually enjoys Seongwoo’s suffering anyway.

“It’s not going to be that easy.”

Predictably, Seongwoo’s face falls, but Minhyun doesn’t feel as happy as he thought he would be.

“Oh, okay then.”

The silence between them weighs down heavier than before, the clink of cutlery echoing in Minhyun’s ears. Even though he decided that he was going to pretend to like Seongwoo, he doesn’t really know what people actually do in relationships. His only experience with anything romantic is limited to literature, like Shakespeare, and Minhyun’s pretty sure that people these days don’t just get on one knee and start waxing poetics to another.

The silence is broken by Seongwoo’s soft hum. “Hmm, you haven’t touched your wine yet?”

“Oh, I don’t drink. I can’t handle alcohol too well.” Minhyun looks up, feeling a little embarrassed.

“Ah, I didn’t mean I wanted to get you drunk or anything! I’m so so sorry!”

Instinctively, Minhyun reaches out for Seongwoo’s hand, which is being frantically waved about. “It’s okay. You don’t need to know everything about me, that’s what time is for.”

Seongwoo freezes and Minhyun lingers like that, with his hand wrapped around Seongwoo’s for a few seconds. Then he quickly withdraws, feeling a warmth rise from his neck.

“Time.” The expression on Seongwoo’s face as he rolls out the word is making Minhyun feel strange. “It seems like there’s a limit to everything. But I sincerely hope what we have between us lasts longer than most.”

“I, uh, feel the same way.”

Seongwoo chuckles. “Then, if you’re not going to finish your wine, I guess we can go now?”

Minhyun feels really bad, but he also feels really weird and he needs some fresh air. “Yeah, I guess.”

  


The street is deserted, barely illuminated by streetlights. It’s meant to be cold tonight, but Minhyun’s chest feels strangely warm. Seongwoo is skipping ahead, fist pumping a few times, and Minhyun slowly shakes his head at his antics.

“Yeah! Around this corner there’s a really nice ice-cream place! I can’t wait to show it to you! I go there with Daniel all the time!”

Just a few weeks ago, Minhyun was sending curses at that very same back. And just a few hours ago he was plotting to make his life miserable for stalking him. But now he realises that pretending to like someone really changes a person. He doesn’t feel any of those things anymore.

When Seongwoo disappears around the corner, Minhyun suddenly has an overwhelming sense of dejavu. Like he had experienced something similar to this moment before.

When he reaches the end of the street though, he thinks he knows why. Before entering the ice-cream shop, he hears Seongwoo’s voice.

“Jinyoung!”

“Oh hyung! Aren’t you meant to be with-”

The bell rings when Minhyun enters and he makes eye contact with the boy behind the counter.

“Minhyun-hyung.”

Seongwoo is staring intensely at the various ice-cream flavours in the display cabinet, and Minhyun uses the opportunity to send across a Jihoon-inspired smile. “Wow, Seongwoo, you and Jinyoung must be pretty close.”

“Yeah! Like we hit it off as soon as he started working at the ice-cream shop?”

The poor boy looks like his mother just caught him watching something inappropriate, and Minhyun stops his glaring to laugh instead, satisfied with his reaction. Jinyoung visibly relaxes and smiles back.

“Okay, Minhyun, I know you don’t like sweet things, so I’m not exactly sure which ice-cream flavour to choose.”

Minhyun halts him. “Seongwoo, this an example of something you might not know about me. I never said that I don’t like sweet things. I actually rather enjoy them sometimes.”

Jinyoung pipes up. “He always gets the chocolate and vanilla one, hyung.”

Seongwoo looks up with a grin. “Ok, then two scoops each for both of us, Jinyoung!”

“You can choose any flavour you like, you don’t need to get the same as me.”

“Well, if I want to make the most of my time to get to know Hwang Minhyun better, I should start by understanding his favourite ice-cream flavour, right?”

_That. Makes sense._

They sit down to eat the ice-cream, Seongwoo still smiling like a fool. There’s a bit of ice-cream above his lip, and Minhyun is debating whether to wipe it off with his hand or tell Seongwoo to get a napkin. In the end he decides that skin-to-skin contact is what people who like each other would choose, so he starts to raise his hand.

“Hey, haven’t you seen that guy on TV before?”

“Which one, they’re both really good looking?”

Minhyun freezes at the whispering coming from behind him. Even though he knows Seongwoo had gotten some attention, he’d never actually heard people talking about it in real life.

“Oh, yeah, that would be me.” Seongwoo swings out sideways, raising his hand. “Even though this guy is handsome enough to be on TV too.”

Minhyun snaps out of it, and turns around to smile politely at the girls’ surprised faces.

“Do you want a photo or something? When I get famous it’ll probably be pretty valuable.”

The girls nod, and then they start whispering to each other again. “What about the other guy?” “He’s just a normal guy, it’ll be inappropriate!”

Seongwoo turns to him apologetically, but Minhyun feels strangely bolstered by Seongwoo’s confidence. “I don’t mind, I can be in the photo too.”

The girls smile and hold up their phone to take a selfie, so Seongwoo comes around to stand next to Minhyun, wrapping his arm around his shoulder. At this proximity he can’t bring himself to look at Seongwoo for some reason, so he resorts to watching him in the phone screen, face plastered with a stupid grin. He’s holding up a peace sign, and Minhyun decides to mirror his with a smile.

“3, 2, 1!” _Click._ “Ah, thank you so much. I’m so sorry, but I can’t exactly remember your name.”

“That’s alright, it’s Ong Seongwoo! Watch out for me in the future!”

Seongwoo bows as the girls leave.

“It’s getting pretty late, do you want me to walk you home Minhyun?”

Minhyun considers it for a second, but then he realises he doesn’t want Seongwoo to come to the apartment where Jihoon is probably waiting with a million evil and compromising things prepared.

“No, that’s alright, I can make my own way home.”

“Oh. Then, bye? I’ll see you at Literature?” Seongwoo looks at him as if he wants to say something else.

Unfortunately Minhyun, despite his severe lack of knowledge in the relationship department, knows exactly what people who like each other do at the end of nights like these. Seongwoo’s probably thinking the same thing. Of course, to make his act as realistic as possible, he needs to bite the bullet.

He quickly swipes his tongue over his lips.

And then locks his gaze straight on Seongwoo’s.

And then slowly leans forward.

Seongwoo seems to catch onto what he’s trying to do and parts his mouth slightly.

But that’s when Minhyun notices it. The ice-cream. Still positioned precisely on his cupid’s bow.

Minhyun overshoots and kisses Seongwoo’s nose instead.

_Fuck. What the fuck. What the actual fuck._

His whole face burns and he pulls back, turning around before he can take in Seongwoo’s expression.

“Fuck, bye Seongwoo! I have to go, bye!”

Minhyun legs it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oh no !
> 
> sorry for the slower updates, it might be another week before the next one. 
> 
> i hope you enjoyed this chapter though :)


	9. phase 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> maknae line + kang choding try to piece things together

“Code red. Daniel come to base immediately.”

Daniel bends his neck to slot his phone in between his ear and shoulder, freeing up his hands to continue sifting through the clothing rack. “Jihoon-ssi? Did something go wrong with their date?”

“I’ll brief everyone at base, just come here quickly. Guanlin already ordered chicken.”

“Oh! You’ll be there too?”

“Of course. The situation is severe enough for me to get on the field.”

Daniel perks up. Jihoon _and_ chicken? Tonight must be his lucky night. He’d been too nervous to face him in person ever since the nosebleed-hoodie incident, but his heart can’t help but flutter at the fact that Jihoon just made the move to see him first (even if it is for a code red). “Oh, ah, I’ll be right over! Just need to finish something real quick, but I’ll see you soon Jihoon-ssi!”

The other responds with a grunt and ends the call. Daniel quickly opens the message Woojin had sent him previously, squinting at the different brand names. Coming to a decision, he grabs two red pieces on the far side of the rack.

When the Uber arrives at Woojin and Guanlin’s apartment, he spots the familiar nest of fluffy hair up ahead, phone to ear. He feels a strong urge to surprise him, so Daniel readjusts the shopping bag to his forearm, bending slightly to start sneaking forward.

“Yeah, Woojin, I know it’s due tomorrow, but-“

“Rraargh!” _Whack._

“OW! Who the f-“

“No no no that was an accident!”

Daniel’s standing in front of Jihoon, his face reflecting pure terror, both arms still raised in a clawed position from trying to surprise the younger. As if it’s mocking him, the offending shopping bag keeps swinging on his forearm even after accidentally whacking the other in the face.

Jihoon flushes from what Daniel suspects is rage, and he prepares himself for a string of biting remarks. Instead, though, Jihoon simply glares at him, hand on nose. Then he brushes past, muttering, “An eye for an eye, or a nose for a nose, I guess.”

He doesn’t know why he was let off so easily, but Daniel’s about to go on one knee to apologise profusely when a figure emerges from the entrance.

“Yo, Hoonie, I told you– oh?” Woojin sidesteps, letting the man with the dark aura in, then bounds over to whisper to Daniel. “ _Hyung, I told you matching hoodies were a bad idea.”_ Daniel bites his lip, following after Jihoon to the apartment. _“Uhhh, Woojin, I think I just did something much worse.”_

He still feels jittery even after Guanlin offers him the last chicken leg, and Jinyoung arrives with takeaway ice-cream. When Daehwi gives him a quick shoulder rub it does nothing to alleviate the burning feeling of the shopping bag on his wrist. He doesn’t realise that he hasn’t even made eye-contact with Jihoon once in the past hour until the sound of his voice snaps him out of it.

“Daniel. Daniel! We’re starting from the beginning. What did you see in the restaurant?”

When he looks up, he’s met with an expression of concern rather than expected annoyance. He suddenly remembers an epiphany he had one night– the offhandish Jihoon in his phone is only a sliver of the real-life Jihoon.

“Oh. Well they seemed fine. What happened Jihoon-ssi? Why is there a code red?”

Jihoon sighs and turns to everyone else sitting around the table. “I’ll just recap quickly then. Basically I told Minhyun-hyung to fake date Seongwoo, and things were going fine according to Daniel because we all know it was actually a real date.” There’s consensual nodding.

Jihoon continues, tone lowered. “Then, after the date, something strange happened. He came home, and didn’t even try to hug me once. Not. Even. Once.” Gasps of horror. Daniel swears Daehwi looks like he’s about to faint.

“Luckily, our Agent Bae messaged me with a very interesting video.” Jihoon slowly brings out his phone. “What you’re about to see here may contain sensitive material. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

Daniel recognises the grainy place in the screen as the ice-cream shop he and Seongwoo always go to. He makes out two figures, one of them starting to lean in towards the other. The video zooms closer to capture the moment. The other one, Seongwoo, begins leaning in too, but they seem to be out-of-sync with their leaning because suddenly Minhyun’s lips are on Seongwoo’s nose.

Woojin shrieks. Jihoon quickly pauses the video and puts his phone away. “I’m sorry you all had to witness that, but Jinyoung and I just needed to share the pain.”

Daniel wants to facepalm at how Seongwoo’s lack of coordination manifested at such a critical moment.

“So right now we have a few options. I can confidently predict that at this very point in time, Minhyun-hyung is in his bed, eating ice-cream, staring at pictures of Seongwoo on his laptop. Unfortunately the outlier is Seongwoo himself. Daniel’s no help since he had no idea about Seongwoo’s mutual feelings for Minhyun in the first place.” Daniel smiles sheepishly at Jihoon’s gesture. “And he’ll continue to be of no help if he doesn’t set up that meeting with Jisung.”

He opens his mouth in protest, but Jihoon continues. “To understand Seongwoo, we need to understand his connection to the theatre club, something that Minhyun-hyung has hated since before we even knew him. I’ve already tested Minhyun-hyung, and he has no idea Seongwoo is related to the club.”

Daniel interrupts him, emphasising the first word. “We don’t even know if Seongwoo is related to the club. Him and I just happen to be friends with Jisung-hyung. And Jisung-hyung never talks about the club with anyone.”

Jihoon turns to glare, and Daniel can’t help but smile. “That is true, but we can’t assume things without a thorough investigation. Do you have any ideas Daniel?”

Everyone’s attention is on him, and he slowly lays out the points he’s actually been thinking over for a while. “Well, the theatre club is like a secret society right? In all their performances, everyone wears a mask so you have no prejudice of who’s actually on stage. So technically the only people who know the members of the theatre club are the members themselves.” Jihoon’s eyes widen when he realises where Daniel is going with this. “In conclusion, we have an acting major right here, and a potential theatre club member, don’t we?”

There’s a hum of agreement, and Guanlin pipes up, “Yeah, that’s right!”

“Minhyun-hyung…” Jihoon hesitates, then closes his eyes. “If it’s for the greater good, I’ll do it. I’ll join.”

There’s an eruption of cheers, which stops as soon as it starts due to Jihoon’s threatening gaze. Afterwards Woojin tells everyone to leave because, “I have that dumbass assignment due tomorrow, and _somebody_ doesn’t care,” so Daehwi and Jinyoung say bye, and Guanlin goes to his room. Daniel silently points at the shopping bag on his arm and Woojin mouths an _“okay”_ and disappears

It’s only the two of them still sitting at the table, Jihoon’s head in his hands. Daniel tries to muster up his courage to give him the hoodie. “Hey, um, Jihoon-ssi. First of all I’m really sorry. Really really sorry. About your hood-“

“You have a way with words, don’t you?”

“Oh, uh-“

“I just realised I don’t know what you study. What _is_ your major, Kang Daniel?”

“Oh it’s film studies.”

“Huh.” Jihoon narrows his eyes, looking up to rest his chin on his hands.

Daniel swallows and puts the shopping bag on the table. “This is for you.”

Jihoon takes the bag with a frown, pulling out the two hoodies.

“Ah, it’s my apology for ruining your hoodie! And it’s red because blood is red!”

“And there’s two because…”

“So we can match.” Daniel takes the larger one with an uneasy grin. “Um, I mean, it was 2 for 1.”

“Okay. Thanks.” He holds the hoodie up. “It’s actually from the new Winter collection. I really wanted this.”

“Seriously? That’s great!”

Jihoon shoots him another look. “Don’t think you can buy me with money Daniel. I know about your ulterior motives.” Then he takes a deep breath, closing his eyes. “And. Sorry. About hurting you. So sorry.”

Daniel’s lips twitch, and he feels a familiar fluttering sensation in his chest. Jihoon stands up suddenly, the chair scraping backwards. “I should go back and check on Minhyun-hyung. And you should go check on Seongwoo. Bye, I’ll message you.”

He uses all he has to hold back his smile, but as soon as Jihoon’s back is turned, his face erupts into one of sunshine. Maybe he has a chance with Park Jihoon after all.

 

 

**never respond never call 11.02 pm**

Minhyun!

Hey Minhyun!

Minhyun I know you’re reading this~

 

Minhyun throws the phone down, quickly glancing around his bedroom. His curtains are drawn, his closet and bedroom doors shut, so he slowly turns to look behind him.

_Nothing._

He slaps a palm to his forehead, kicking his blankets. “You’re not an idiot, Hwang Minhyun.”

Seongwoo’s face seems to mock him from his laptop screen, and he glances between it and the ice-cream in his hand. Then he kicks the blankets some more.

His phone lights up again and he sucks his bottom lip before deciding to unlock it.

 

**never respond never call 11.03 pm**

Are you really not going to respond?

Okay then…

 

**Minhyun 11.05 pm**

Hi Seongwoo

 

**never respond never call 11.05 pm**

Oh Minhyun!

I found the photo that the girls from the ice cream place took of us

I had to search Gong Seongwoo though

 

Minhyun lets out a chuckle, and he waits for the photo to send across with a smile.

 

**never respond never call 11.06 pm**

[IMG_8995.jpg]

 

He downloads the photo to his laptop, moving it into the folder on his desktop labelled ‘2’, zooming in to look at Seongwoo more closely. He bursts out laughing when he notices the white smudge above his upper lip, and then freezes when he remembers what that white smudge did for him. He quickly presses the arrow key to get rid of the photo, and it opens the other photo in the folder, the one with coffee all over Seongwoo’s front.

_Much better._

Staring at the photo for a while, he notices his phone light up again.

 

**never respond never call 11.15 pm**

I didn’t have the chance to say it, but I had a really great time tonight.

Looking forward to our next date!

 

A smile begins to creep on his lips, and he wonders if he should take the next big step.

_Okay, I’ll do it._

Lifting up his phone, he opens _never respond never call_ ’s contact page. Then he presses the ‘Edit’ button in the corner. Then he presses the name. Then he types ‘S’.

“For ‘Stalker’,” he says to himself. “Definitely not ‘Seongwoo’”.

 

**Minhyun 11.18 pm**

Me too

 

**S 11.18 pm**

That’s great to hear!

Sweet dreams, hope you have a good night!

 

Minhyun looks at the message for a while, and then screenshots it.

There’s a soft knock on his door, and he lights up because it can only be one person.

“JIHOON!!!!!!!!” The door opens and the younger is suddenly attacked with a bear hug.

“Ack, hyung!”

“How’s my favourite dongsaeng doing???”

“What? Ah! Stop!”

“Tomorrow, I’m not only going to buy Guanlin lunch, I’m going to buy EVERYONE lunch!”

“Okay, okay, hyung. Just let me go.”

He releases him, and Jihoon’s eye is drawn to the phone in Minhyun’s hand.

“What happened hyung?”

Minhyun looks at his phone, then looks at Jihoon, who’s slowly starting to cross his arms.

“Nothing Jihoon, nothing at all!” He panics, pushing the younger out and locking the door before anything life-threatening can happen. Then he slides to the floor and re-reads the message another few times, before sending a message about lunch to the group chat.

 

 

“Order anything, anything at all.”

Minhyun beams at his dongsaengs, who’s looking at him with slightly terrified expressions.

“Anything? Do you have a coupon hyung?”

“No, no coupon!”

Daehwi glances over at Jinyoung who shoots back an equally puzzled look.

“Well I won’t refuse a free meal! Thanks hyung!” Minhyun sends a smile towards Guanlin, who grabs the menu and starts flicking through. However he doesn’t notice Jihoon messaging someone, before sending a nod to Woojin.

“Oh, Minhyun! What are you doing here!”

Minhyun freezes at the familiar voice. _It’s the stalker._

He slowly turns around to see Seongwoo grinning at him, flanked on both sides by Daniel and Jaehwan.

“Seongwoo.”

All of a sudden Woojin comes to life, snatching the phone out from where Minhyun had stuffed it very securely in his pocket. Minhyun tries to grab at it, but Woojin turns to his other side, holding the phone out of reach while desperately tapping on the screen.

“Woojin! Quick! Go to his messages!”

“I’m trying to Jihoon! I don’t have an iPhone, I don’t know how to use this!”

“Wait, what!”

Daniel then comes forward with a wink, taking the phone from Woojin’s hand to open the Messages app, and proudly holding towards them the familiar screen of grey and blue chat bubbles.

Minhyun rapidly glances over at Jihoon, whose face has turned beet red. He closes his eyes in preparation for the incoming roast session.

“I’m sorry guys. These are private messages between Minhyun and I.”

He opens his eyes to see Seongwoo now holding his phone, shaking his head at Daniel. Even though the Seongwoo in front of him is definitely 9am Seongwoo, Minhyun swears right now he's looking the best he’s ever have. “I’m not sure why everyone’s so invested, but we had a great time last night, so no worries.”

Suddenly the phone is snatched once again, and Minhyun’s eyes quickly travel to the culprit.

_Oh crap._

“I’d very much like to know everything about Minhyun’s new fling. Tell me all the details.” His old roommate Sungwoon has appeared out of nowhere, fanning his face with the phone, the biggest smirk on his mouth. “So, how _did_ first year Minhyun change so much?”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> now that things are becoming clearer, maybe you already have an idea of what happened between seongwoo and minhyun? :p
> 
> hope you liked the relationship progressions yay!


	10. our time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Minhyun's learning.

Minhyun’s always hoped that Sungwoon and Jihoon would never meet. Considering Sungwoon’s vast amount of resources, and Jihoon’s pure aggressiveness, the two would make the perfect evil duo in a bid to plot against him.

But no, here they are in the same room, and it just so happens to be when Ong Seongwoo’s entered his life. Right now, everything that he’s ever wished not to happen, seems to be happening anyway.

“Hyung!” Seongwoo gasps, as Sungwoon makes a good job of holding off the other despite his smaller stature. “It doesn’t matter anymore, Minhyun and I are dating for real now!”

 _Pretend dating,_ Minhyun immediately corrects, but in his head.

“Oh!” Sungwoon freezes, and Seongwoo stretches to pluck the phone out of his hand, letting out a very big and unattractive grunt. “Then that’s great news, very great news.”

His former roommate directs a wide smile towards him, and then to all of his dongsaengs sitting around the table. “You must be Minhyunnie’s friends!” Gesturing to Seongwoo and his lackeys, he winks. “And you’re the hot boyfriend. And you must be hot boyfriend’s friends, how are you.” Daniel and Jaehwan awkwardly receive his handshakes. “So which one of you is Minhyun’s roommate?”

Minhyun’s eyes widen, and he jumps up to block the line of sight between Jihoon and Sungwoon, but he’s forgotten about verbal communication, because a curt voice behind him replies, “Who’s asking?”

Sungwoon’s undeterred however, as he always is, and sidesteps around Minhyun before eyeing Jihoon. “Aw, you’re pretty cute. I’m Sungwoon.” He points to his chest dramatically. “I’m his previous roommate!”

Minhyun frantically turns around, in time to see Jihoon go starry-eyed. “You’re the legendary Ha Sungwoon?! No way, I use your _Guide to Hwang Minhyun_ everyday!”

“Helpful, right? I want to congratulate you for being the first person to successfully melt this ice prince’s heart.” Sungwoon reaches over with an outstretched hand. “What’s your name, young one?”

“Park Jihoon!”

“Well there’s a lot more knowledge I can impart-”

Minhyun can’t handle this for one second longer, so he gets up and drags Sungwoon out.

(He hears the faint sound of, “No where’s hyung going I want my free lunch nooooo” so in the spur of the moment he leaves his card with the person at the register).

Once they’re safely out of the restaurant and on the other side of the street, he turns around, about to unleash his fury, but he’s greeted with a huge smile. “Hwang Minhyun, you did take my advice!”

He shakes his head frustrated. _Just tell him that you and Seongwoo are not actually dating_. But then a lightbulb goes off in his head, when he realises that this could be a way to get Sungwoon off his back, once and for all.

“Oh. Yes. Hyung. Seongwoo is right. That is right.” He accompanies his agreement by raising the corners of his lips.

Sungwoon lifts an eyebrow, waving a hand in front of his face. “Did first year Minhyun come back? Hello, I am a human, not a fellow robot.”

He swats the hand away, frustrated. “No, hyung. Seriously, stop mentioning my first year. Look, Seongwoo and I are together now. The end. You don’t need to set me up with anyone anymore, okay?”

“Okay! I hear you. Okay.” Sungwoon wriggles free from his grasp, mouth forming another smile that he knows doesn’t mean okay. “No, really, I get it, I’m happy for you two!”

“And?”

“Well I’m happy for _you_ , Minhyun. But for Seongwoo, I’m not so sure. I know what you’re like. You can’t be passive and wait for things to happen, sometimes _you_ have to be the one who acts first.”

Even though Minhyun’s the top in his class for literature, he has no idea what Sungwoon means right now, no matter how hard he’s analysing it. “What are you talking about? I act first. I always do.”

The other sighs. “Just take it as advice from someone who has actual experience with relationships. You’ll understand once the time comes. Now I’ve got to go Minhyunnie, but remember to thank me later!”

Sungwoon bounds away down the street before Minhyun can react.

_Wait why was Sungwoon-hyung even in the restaurant in the first place?_

 

 

 

As Jihoon watches Minhyun drag Ha Sungwoon out of the restaurant, he makes a mental note to properly give the latter his thanks for all the inside information another time.

“Hi, are you ready to order? The man who was just with you left his credit card at the register.”

Guanlin shouts out an “Aw yeah!”, but then Seongwoo interrupts, turning to the waiter. “No, that’s okay, I’m actually paying.” Then he turns to his other friend, whispering, “Come on man, help me out just one more time.”

“Fine, if it means you get laid.” The other friends lets out a psychotic laugh as Seongwoo hits his shoulder, disgusted.

When Seongwoo leaves, Jihoon gestures to Daniel to sit down opposite him at Minhyun’s vacated spot.

“Okay, everyone, phase 4 may have failed, but we’ll be reverting to plan B, so now-”

“Jihoon, are you and Daniel wearing the same hoodie?” Woojin smirks at him from across the table.

He looks down at his hoodie, and then up at Daniel’s hoodie, and then further up at Daniel’s beaming face.

“It seems so.” He can feel his cheeks involuntarily heating up again, and he just hopes that they don’t turn as red as his clothes. “But that’s not important right now. Right now we need to help Minhyun-hyung understand his true-”

“I swear you’ve been messaging Daniel-hyung a lot more lately.” Jinyoung turns to Daehwi. “Hasn’t he?”

Daehwi agrees. “He definitely has.”

Jihoon shifts his glare towards Daniel’s now fully-smiling face. “I have, but that’s only been for business reasons-”

“Park Jihoon, you’re not denying anything though.” Daniel blinks at him, expression truly innocent (Jihoon knows a genuine one when he sees it). He tries to ignore his now rapidly beating heart by sighing and closing his eyes.

“Yes, I know, but-”

“Woah, what the hell!”

Jihoon opens them to rebuke Daniel’s rude interjection, but the words get lost on his tongue when he sees that there’s now a shadow casted over him, and then he feels a weight on his shoulder.

“Park Jihoon, the second-year acting major and psychology minor?”

Jihoon turns his head, eyeing the figure next to him up and down. He can hear Daehwi shrieking, but he only feels a sense of annoyance as he surveys the person dressed in a black cloak, wearing a white mask.

“You’re coming with us.”

Jihoon calmly shifts his gaze towards the bunch of other similarly dressed people standing around him. “To hell I’m not.”

Grabbing the hand that’s been put on his shoulder, he twists it, successfully drawing out a yelp from the other person, but then he feels his chair being pulled backwards.

However he’s Park Jihoon, and while the enemy has numbers, he has sheer will.

He stands up, kicking the chair backwards, and then tears the mask from the first cloaked figure’s face.

“Ow! That hurted-”

“Sunbae!” Daniel yelps.

“You know this weirdo, Daniel?” Jihoon turns to Daniel, shocked.

“That’s Jisung-hyung!” Daniel gets up, starting to move around the table towards him.

“The theatre club?” He turns back to Jisung, confused.

“Just come with us quietly, Park Jihoon.”

Suddenly a bag’s thrown over his head, and he’s enveloped in darkness, everything around him now sounding like an echo at the back of his mind. His feet start to shuffle across the floor as someone starts dragging him by the arm, but then he feels a larger hand slip over his.

“Wait, Jisung-hyung, do you really need to kidnap him?” Daniel’s voice resonates down from above, and Jihoon swears that he can hear his own heart beat even clearer in this subdued state.

“Don’t worry Daniel! I’m only keeping up tradition, it’ll be fine.”

They start moving again, but then Daniel squeezes his hand, and he feels a warmth on his shoulder. “I’ll be following you, okay?” His voice is barely audible, but each syllable arrives distinctly to his ear.

“Okay.” He whispers back.

Then he’s let go, and he feels the cool rush of air as the restaurant door opens.

 

 

 

Minhyun’s decided to go back to his apartment because he’s simply not in the mood to pretend to _not_ dislike Seongwoo, especially with everyone else there as well.

Which, in retrospect, was a really bad idea because he’s just realised that he left his credit card at the restaurant. _And_ Seongwoo has his phone.

Also, hours have passed and Jihoon still hasn’t come back, which is strange because he was expecting the next stage of Jihoon’s plan to start, or something. And Jihoon’s bound to have taken his phone from Seongwoo anyway.

So now he’s just sitting in bed, doing what he does best.

Watching dramas. With ice cream.

Honestly, none of the dramas currently airing are as good as the one Seongwoo was in a few months ago, so he’s just re-watching his favourite scenes again (i.e. all the scenes that Seongwoo wasn’t in).

However, even though he swears he’s watched this particular scene many times before, it feels slightly different. Like, how in the world does Shin not realise he’s in love with Euntak?

It gets a bit frustrating to watch, so he turns the episode off.

Then a thought comes to his head. _You have to be the one who acts first_.

Remembering what Sungwoon said to him, he begins to wonder what that even means. After racking his brain for a while, he decides to turn to the drama gods for help. Typing in ‘Top 10 romantic drama scenes’ in Naver, he clicks on the video with the most amount of views.

Almost all the scenes include a wrist-grab, and then an intense stare-off between the two leads. And then...

His face heats up.

He’s so absorbed in watching the video, he doesn’t hear the doorbell ringing until a familiar voice calls out, “Minhyun-ah! Minhyun!”

Immediately he slams the lid of the laptop at the sound of Seongwoo’s voice. Panicking, he throws it on his desk, and then grabs the nearest poetry book he can get his hands on, quickly neatening up his hair in the mirror.

_Wait, what am I even doing?_

Technically, he could just pretend to not be at home, and not answer the door. Minhyun slowly shakes his head, repeatedly hitting his forehead with the book.

“Uh, Minhyun! I have your phone, and your credit card!”

_Oh crap._

He makes his way over to the apartment door, fingers hovering over the lock. But he can’t bring himself to open it. The only people that’s ever been in his apartment, after Sungwoon moved out, has been Jihoon and his friends. He’s never felt inclined to invite anyone else over. So what makes Seongwoo different from everyone else?

“Well, I guess you’re probably not at home right now, so I’m just going to wait here until you come back, okay?” There’s a thud, indicating that Seongwoo’s now sitting down. Minhyun almost opens the door at the thought of the dirty floor, but stops himself before he can do so. “Man, everyone ate so much, Jaehwan didn’t even have enough, goodbye bonus, hello bread-”

There’s a pause, and he wonders whether Seongwoo actually paid for his dongsaengs’ lunch, or if he’s insulting Minhyun for wanting to eat bread on their date yesterday.

“Wait, who cares if I have bread for dinner tonight. At least Minhyun will be happy!”

Minhyun’s mouth opens slightly, and all the thoughts that were flying around his brain halt.

“No, he doesn’t hate you Seongwoo, then why would he change your name in his phone to S?”

Afterwards, even when he presses his ear against the door, all he can here is some mumbling and a sigh.

His hand acts before his brain can start functioning again, and then he’s startled out of his daze at the sound of the click. He stares down at his hand on the lock, feeling betrayed.

“Oh! Minhyun, you’re actually at home?”

He swallows, staring at the back of the door, and waits for the inevitable. After a few seconds, it swings open.

The man in the corridor stares at him for a moment, before breaking out into a stupid grin, eyes scrunching up. “Hi.”

He feels an urge to shut the door. But to do so, he’d have to step out into the corridor to grab the door handle, and that would mean one step closer to Seongwoo. In the end he just turns around.

But Seongwoo, of course, doesn’t get the hint and pops up in front him with the same grin, waving his phone. “You forgot these at the restaurant.”

“Thanks Seongwoo.” He attempts a smile, but it doesn’t quite work out the way he intended, so instead he walks over to the kitchen, putting down the poetry book and the phone.

“Oh, is this a bad time? Should I leave or-”

“No!” He quickly swings around, but then regrets it when he catches Seongwoo breaking out into another stupid smile. “Thank you. For my phone. And for paying.”

He hurriedly turns away again in embarrassment.

“It’s nothing! That’s what boyfriends are for.”

_Boyfriend???_

“Actually, I want to confess something. There’s another reason why I’m here. I think we’re a lot closer, right? And I want to start improving.”

His mind immediately goes to the Naver video he watched earlier, and he swallows as he recalls his failed attempt at a kiss the night before. When he feels a hand on his wrist, his heart starts beating faster, and he slowly turns around.

However, instead of Seongwoo’s face, he’s greeted with paper. “Can you help me practice my lines?”

 _Oh._ He’s disappointed for a second, but then his mind wanders back to the video.

Snatching the script, he hurriedly scans the dialogue. He flicks through the pages, but his face falls when he doesn’t find what he’s looking for.

“Kiss scene? There’s no kiss scene?” Minhyun looks up in shock.

“Wait why?” Seongwoo returns his question with a furrow of his brow, confused. “They’re just best friends. And there’s a female lead.”

Something erupts in him. “Best friends can kiss too! Where’s this scene from, huh? It’s before he meets the female lead right! Who knows what they did before? Do you know Seongwoo? Do you?”

He channels all of his fury into the biggest glare he can muster. Seongwoo seems to falter.

“Minhyun-ah?” Seongwoo’s now looking worried, his voice small. “Are you angry? Angry that I stuffed up the kiss last night? Did you- did you want to try again?”

“Oh-” It feels like a bucket of cold water’s just been thrown on him, and all the tension that was in his face unknots. Seongwoo looks at him carefully, and then his eyes flicker downwards, to his lips.

"-kay."

Minhyun can’t help but move his gaze downwards as well. And then when Seongwoo starts moving closer, he can’t help but close his eyes.

First he feels the ghost of the other’s warm breath. And then he feels the tiniest amount of pressure as Seongwoo gently presses his lips against his own.

He finds his grip on the edge of the kitchen bench, steadying himself, but then Seongwoo’s warm hands follow as he pushes in deeper, his tongue easing his lips apart.

It feels warm, and it tastes sweet, and he doesn’t know how many moments pass before Seongwoo pulls away, but only slightly.

“Did that make up for it?” Seongwoo softly breathes out, slightly ragged, eyes searching.  

Mind completely blank, Minhyun can only respond by closing the distance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :)
> 
>  
> 
> ooh sorry for the realllly long wait! but hopefully this chapter makes up for it!  
> anyway i made a [twitter](https://twitter.com/birthdayblur?lang=en) if anyone wants to talk! or scream. ong has been so sweet lately ;.; 
> 
> thanks for reading <3


	11. flashes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Maybe allowing yourself to go with the flow is a good thing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> back with the random updating!  
> this chapter is slightly longer 
> 
> and this fic is rated T just saying
> 
> enjoy :)

Minhyun’s mouth moves so naturally against Seongwoo’s that he doesn’t even realise what he’s doing.

It’s only when he hears himself letting out a moan that he comes to his senses, eyes flying open.

Seongwoo’s impossibly close, and he could probably count the number of lashes on his lid if he wanted. But his eyes end up fluttering shut when Seongwoo’s hands travel up his forearms, gripping them tight, the sensation in his mouth suddenly hotter, and he can feel another moan threatening to escape-

_Fuck._

Minhyun pushes himself off the kitchen bench, causing Seongwoo to stumble backwards, losing hold.

His eyes are immediately drawn to his lips, pink and shining, and then he squeezes them shut, repeating a multitude of profanities in his mind. The image of Seongwoo’s face slowly moving against his replays over and over, burnt into his brain

“Minhyun-ah.”

It’s the same voice he hates, but his name sounds so _nice_ whispered cautiously and low.

“Seongwoo,” he manages to squeeze out, throat constricting. “Let’s eat.”

He turns around, really wanting to hit his forehead against the wall until he wakes himself up. But then the same hushed voice is now coming from beside him, and his skin prickles. “What do you want to eat?”

Minhyun open his eyes just a sliver, glancing sideways at Seongwoo’s lips.

He exhales, looking back down at his hands. “Just sit. On the sofa. I’ll cook.”

Suddenly he feels the soft touch of a palm on his back, smoothing out gentle circles, and his muscles relax automatically at the strangely familiar feeling.

“I can wash things, or chop vegetables, or something?”

“I don’t need that.” Minhyun pulls opens the top cabinet, burying his face determinedly.

“Oh. Ah, okay.” His back suddenly feels empty and there’s a tapping of feet as Seongwoo moves into the living area.

Minhyun sighs into the cupboard, trying to focus on the packets of ramyun. But it’s useless, because all he wants do is to taste Seongwoo again. He shakes his head frantically, trying to get rid of the urge.

_No way, am I…_

He looks over at Seongwoo and their eyes meet.

_Why does he look so…_

He really wants to finish the thought with the word ‘dumb’ but another word starts to creep into his mind. Hurriedly pulling out the packets of ramyun, he throws everything into the pot in an attempt to not let that word materialise in his brain.

 _No,_ he says over and over in his head during the whole five minutes it takes for the noodles to cook. When they’re done he brings it over to the coffee table, making sure not to look at the other man sitting there.

“Ooh! I haven’t eaten ramyun in so long, but it probably tastes even better cooked by you.”

Seongwoo grabs the chopsticks and sticks them into the pot, and Minhyun looks up in surprise. “Wait, no, Seongwoo blow on it first-”

“HOT AHHH HOT!!!”

Seongwoo’s face scrunches up very unattractively, his tongue sticking out and panting, but Minhyun just stays still.

_Why does he look so hot?_

“Help me! Water!”

Minhyun blinks a few times, before slowly standing up.

 _He_ is _good looking._

Reading netizen comments on Pann, he’d always scoffed and thumbed down any that had mentioned Seongwoo’s looks, but for some reason it’s like he has a new pair of eyeballs.

“Ah. I’m okay. I’m okay. It still hurts though, but I’m okay.”

Seongwoo leans back on his hands, eyes closed, face turned to the ceiling, chest heaving, and Minhyun swallows audibly.

He’s not sure how loud it was, because the other opens an eye and smiles, one that sends a rush of warmth to his chest.

“I really am dumb, aren’t I?”

Minhyun doesn’t respond, instead walking back to the kitchen in another daze. When he comes back, he crouches, holding a cup of water to Seongwoo’s face.

“Oh, thanks, but I’m okay now, Minhyun-ah.”

Seongwoo looks at him curiously when he doesn’t move away, putting the cup of water on the coffee table.

“Um...” He’s sure his ears are a bright red, but he can’t take his eyes off the other man, like he’s seeing him for the first time.

“Hm?”

“I’m sorry,” Minhyun whispers, finding himself with his hand on the other’s face, slowly stroking the edge of his jaw with his thumb.

“What for?” Seongwoo doesn’t flinch or resist, instead he leans into the touch, looking up at him through his eyelashes.

“Just… everything… um...”

Even though he’s struggling to come up with words, Seongwoo just smiles, waiting for him patiently.

_Oh fuck it._

He tries pulling Seongwoo’s jaw up so their lips can meet, but it doesn’t budge, and it feels like it might dislocate from the way the other stares back, wide-eyed. So then he attempts to lower his face, but he loses balance and falls forward.

Minhyun winces as their foreheads knock against each other’s with a _clunk_ , and he saves himself from falling completely by bracing himself with his palms on either side, not daring to look up.

The next few seconds are the longest few seconds of his life, but then Seongwoo’s chin starts shaking, a gurgling laugh coming out that reminds him of the time the other got in trouble during Literature.

“Minhyun-ah!” He sputters in between laughs. “You’re cute.”

He wants to go back to his bedroom, curl up in his blankets, finish that ice cream ( _crap_ he forgot to put that back in the fridge), just _anything_ if it means he doesn’t have to hear Seongwoo’s laughter any longer.

Glancing up, he stares despondently at Seongwoo’s teeth, the incessant sound showing no signs of stopping.

But then he realises that Seongwoo’s lips are right in front of him.

And before he knows it, he’s leaning forward and capturing Seongwoo’s upper lip in between his own.

Seongwoo’s laughter immediately stops, replaced by a small inhale when Minhyun lightly tugs, tongue brushing inside.

When he pulls back, Seongwoo’s hand has already travelled to his nape. Minhyun holds his breath as darkened eyes fix onto his mouth, but instead he only gets a peck on his nose and a soft smile.

Minhyun huffs in frustration, then slowly licks a trail over Seongwoo’s bottom lip, gaze unmoving from the other’s, before changing positions to sit in between his legs, his own long legs resting on the other’s thighs.

Seongwoo doesn’t react for a while, but then he lowers his gaze, tilting his head to pepper Minhyun’s neck with feather-like kisses, and it takes all he can to not beg for something more intense.

He tries to make his cravings more obvious by unashamedly pushing his tongue onto the centre of Seongwoo’s lips, then pulling back when they part, but he doesn’t receive what he expects in return, only a drawn-out exhale of hot air and then a slow, deliberate nuzzle of his jaw.

This continues for a while, Minhyun testing out every possibility that could lead to a kiss, and Seongwoo just happening to explore everywhere above Minhyun’s shoulders _except_ for his mouth. The only reason he keeps trying are the brief flashes of desire trapped in those extended pauses.

He doesn’t know how much time has passed, or how many failed attempts he’s had, but he can only focus on the _right now_ , Seongwoo gently biting the burning parts of his ear, taking care to linger, with each graze of his teeth, to softly whisper his name.

And that’s when he caves in, Minhyun first placing a kiss on Seongwoo’s Cupid’s bow, before moving down to his lips. Unsure of what to do next, he gazes into Seongwoo’s eyes, urging him to take control.

Seongwoo’s eyes twinkle back, but he shakes his head.

“You first,” he whispers.

_Me?_

He stares at the other’s lips for a while, swollen and slick with saliva from everything he had done before. Then he moves forward, crashing into them.

Afterwards, when they’re both out of breath, Seongwoo leans down to suck a patch of skin on Minhyun’s collarbone until he knows it’ll definitely leave a mark.

Stuttering, he pulls away. “H-hey, you’re so…”

Seongwoo looks up with a grin. “Dumb?”

“No! Definitely not.” Minhyun smiles back, and he finds that it comes naturally this time. “You wanted me to kiss you first! You wanted to make sure that your feelings were returned. You’re just so… sincere.”

Seongwoo swallows, biting his lip. “Sincere… Then are they? Are they returned?”

Minhyun surveys the worry in his eyes, the furrow of his brow, but a moment passes, and still no words come to mind. So he brings out all of his feelings, combining and crashing them onto Seongwoo’s lips all at once.

_Yes._

 

 

 

The bag’s pulled off his head, and Jihoon immediately stands up, moving into a fighting stance.

“Now what? Do I have to go through some kind of test?” Jihoon yells into the darkness, voice echoing. He realises he’s in a large room, and he deduces that it must be the old auditorium located on the other side of the city, judging from the familiar musty smell.

There’s no response, and he turns around to the person who had pulled the bag off his head, but there’s no one there.

“Jisung-sunbae, I know you’re here somewhere.”

Slowly walking around the stage, he suddenly hears a _crack_ as he steps on something. Bringing it closer to his face, he finds a white mask, big enough to cover his whole face, with holes only for his nose.

“Put the mask on, Park Jihoon,” a voice booms from the speaker system.

He sighs, rolling his eyes, and puts the mask over his face. There’s not much of a difference anyway, seeing as the whole theatre’s in total darkness.

The voice starts again. “The most important part of the theatre is body language-”

“And that’s why everyone hates the theatre club,” Jihoon interrupts.

There’s a long silence, but Jihoon’s figured out that the only way to get Jisung to start talking about what _he_ wants to hear, is to veer him off topic.

Sure enough, the voice replies, slightly hysteric. “Who hates the theatre club?! No one hates the theatre club!”

Jihoon decides to get straight to it. “I don’t know, I’ve heard from some of the members. Like Ong Seongwoo.”  

There’s a huge gasp. “Seongwoo! Seongwoo said that? How dare he! He’s going to get a good piece of my mind, he’s going to-” There’s a pause. “Wait, how did you know Ong Seongwoo was part of the theatre club?”

_Bingo._

Jihoon starts pacing around the stage, purposely drawing out the moment so Jisung has time to grow paranoid. “There’s many things I know about the theatre club.” He decides to take a guess. “Like how Seongwoo-hyung was only a member in his first year.”

“How do you know these things? Did Seongwoo tell you everything?”

“Well there were some… grievances right? When Seongwoo-hyung left.”

There’s another long silence, and Jihoon almost stops pacing around the stage, worried he’s said the wrong thing.

“It’s true, I was a bit strict with Seongwoo. But he knew the rules, we have the masks for a reason.”

Jihoon frowns. There’s not enough new information to throw out another bluff, and he can’t just simply start asking about Minhyun. The only thing he _can_ do is to be confident, but still keeping it as vague as possible.

“Yeah, the rules. Seongwoo just _had_ to break them, huh? If it was me, I wouldn’t have done anything like that.” Jihoon holds his breath, waiting for the reply.

“Hmph. Is that so? You wouldn’t be running off with some random boy, for example Kang Daniel, after every performance?”

Jihoon grits his teeth, realising he’s made the wrong move by shifting the focus back to himself, but he tries to salvage it with the new piece of information anyway. “Well that would only happen if there was even anything between Daniel and I. Seongwoo… he had something special, right?”

“Hm, I guess he and Hwang Minhyun were both first years at the time… Wait, we should be talking about your audition!”

Now that Jisung’s focus is back on him, he pulls the mask off, ready to get out of there. The fact that Seongwoo and Minhyun seemed to have interacted before, due to the theatre club, helps slightly with his theories, but he probably wouldn’t be able to get anymore information out of Jisung anyway.

Looking for an exit, the first thing he sees is a red hoodie, hidden among the folds of the stage curtains.

The person looks down at his feet, usual smile gone, and then turns around.

_Daniel. No._

He’s about to go after him, when a new voice comes through the speaker system.

“Park Jihoon. Do you remember me?”

His eyes widen as he recognises the voice of Minhyun’s previous roommate, Ha Sungwoon. If he’s also part of the club, he’d definitely know what happened in the past. But he can’t tear his eyes away from the retreating back, shoulders slumped, wearing clothes identical to his own.

“If you’re here to find out about the tragedy that was Ong Seongwoo and Hwang Minhyun three years ago- wait, Jihoon, where are you going?”

  

**Minhyun 5.03 pm**

Jihoon, where are you?

When are you coming home?

I’m kind of

Freaking out

Are you with Daniel?

You must know Seongwoo is here, right?

Something happened…

 

Jihoon hurriedly scrolls through the new messages on his phone, as he runs into the wings of the stage and through to the back. The newest message he’s just received from Minhyun sounds extremely concerning, especially when pieced together with the information he’s just gathered. But his mind is also on Daniel, and there’s an overwhelming need to reach him.   

His mind is scrambled, unable to connect things together properly. _So Seongwoo was in the theatre club. They met previously through the theatre club. And I already know that Minhyun hates the theatre club. But when I mentioned it a few days ago, Minhyun didn’t even know that Seongwoo was connected to it?_

Pushing those thoughts aside to mull over it later, he brings his focus back to Daniel, scrolling further down to message him. But there’s already a few there, from hours ago.

 

**Daniel 2.31 pm**

Don’t worry Jihoon! I’m following in an Uber :)

 

**Daniel 3.02 pm**

Haha the Uber driver just made this really funny joke!

Do you know what winks and speeds like a cheetah?

Oh wait, it doesn’t make sense if it’s not in person.

He winked by the way. 

 

**Daniel 3.15 pm**

You must be feeling pretty scared right now :/

What winks and moves like a sloth?

I think we can all wink for that one :)

 

**Daniel 3.42 pm**

I just realised…

What if I’m just following a random car?

 

**Daniel 3.45 pm**

Oh wait! I see you Jihoon :)

 

**Jihoon 5.05 pm**

daniel where are you

 

He stares at his phone, but there’s no immediate reply, so he hurries to find the backstage exit. Recalling the last time he was here for a class, he’s soon bursting out into fresh air.

“Oh, you must be Park Jihoon! You look exactly as Daniel described. Where is he, anyway?”

“He’s not here?” Jihoon eyes the friendly looking old man who’s leaning against a car, concluding that this must be Daniel’s Uber driver.

“No, haven’t seen him since he went in an hour ago. He’s a good kid, and I’m a sucker for young love, I hope it works out between you two.”

Looking down at his hand, he sees that he has a new message and quickly swipes it open.

 

**Daniel 5.10 pm**

I’m still inside.

 

Jihoon breathes a sigh of relief, and heads back in. Combing through the various wings, he sees the person he’s looking for, sitting with his knees to his chest, distinct amongst the folds of heavy curtains.

“Daniel.” He approaches him warily, and Daniel looks up at him, blinking.

“Did you get anymore information from that Sungwoon person?”

Jihoon bites his lip. “Look, I didn’t mean what I said back there, okay? It just seemed like the most logical thing at the time.”

“Yeah, I know.” Daniel looks back down at his feet. “It was for the mission.” He lets out a sigh, sucking in his bottom lip. “Like how everything we’ve ever done together is only because of the mission.”

He stands there awkwardly, staring at the older man. Usually, if Minhyun’s like this, he fires out an immediate reply, insensitive or not. However, all the possible comments in his brain right now just seem immensely inappropriate.

So instead he walks over, and plops down in the spot next to him, his knees not quite reaching the same height, but their arms clothed in the same red. He notices Daniel try to secretly turn his head toward him.

“See, we’re wearing the same hoodie. The one you chose.” Jihoon tugs at the fabric of Daniel’s one, eliciting a smile from the other. “That wasn’t for the mission, right? Unless it’s actually our uniform.”

Daniel’s hand flies to his mouth, but he’s unable to hide his wide grin, crescent eyes a dead giveaway.

“And uh.” He can already feel his cheeks warming up. “It’s not like I needed you for _everything_. Sometimes I contacted you for other reasons too.”

“Like what?”

Jihoon turns to him incredulously, but he’s only met by pure wonder, and he starts coughing, scrambling to his feet. “Gee, look at the time, your Uber driver’s still waiting.”

Suddenly, there’s a familiar warmth around his hand, and he closes his eyes, letting out a quick exhale. “Daniel-”

When he turns around, he’s met with a brightly beaming face.

And then a slight pressure on his lips.

“Why yes, let’s head off, halabeoji’s been waiting long enough.”

Astonished, he allows himself to be pulled away.

 

 

 

“Hey, Seongwoo.”

Minhyun pokes the other man’s cheek, examining his face. Realising that he’s not waking up anytime soon, he sighs at the rescue text he’d sent to Jihoon on his phone, and then habitually opens the camera app.

“Oh.” He leans back a bit to get a clearer shot, and takes a few photos.

Then he turns on selfie mode, and takes a few more photos with a peace sign raised.

Putting down the phone, he resumes staring at Seongwoo’s face. Then his eyes shift downwards to his lips, looking pretty battered.

_Did I do that?_

He scrunches his nose up, mentally hitting himself with a hammer. Minhyun has no idea what came over him in those last few hours, like he was switched with a totally different person, except _he’s_ the one who’s left with those very vivid memories.

Putting a finger on the tender spot on his collarbone where Seongwoo had left a mark, he winces as the pain reminds him that, no, it was indeed him this whole time.

_Boy, those drama scenes really can’t compare to the real thing._

Unwinding himself from Seongwoo’s hips, he sighs at the now cold pot of ramyun, heading to the kitchen to clean it up, as well as the ice cream container in his room. Leaving food around the house- he _must’ve_ been a different person.

But cleaning up those things doesn’t change the fact that there’s someone in his apartment that he would have never left there in a million years.

He heads back to the man in his living room sleeping peacefully, neck bent to one side, and decides to try and move him onto the couch.

As he hauls Seongwoo up, before dropping him gently with much effort, something slips out of his pocket. Picking it up, he accidentally turns it on, realising it’s Seongwoo’s phone.

 

**Daniel 3.05 pm**

omg dudeee i think im going to be sick

NAH PRETTY SURE IM ABOUT TO DIE

ill tell u about it later but old people are supposed to be slow drivers

 

**Daniel 3.17 pm**

yeah

traffic lol

im taking that not replying to me means good things are happening for you

u too whipped!!!!

nvm dont mention jihoon 2 me and i wont mention minhyun 2 u

 

He catches himself chuckling at the messages, imagining Seongwoo talking about him in an equally as fervent way.

All of a sudden the phone vibrates, and he looks down to see that another message has come through.

 

**Jisung 5.22 pm**

You’re not getting your old stuff back if you go around telling people about what happens in my club!!!

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :o 
> 
> there may be a tiny bit of angst in the next chapter!  
> but hopefully this chapter balances it out ???  
> not sure when the next one will be, so lets see how that goes :)
> 
> hope you guys had a great week ! <3


	12. losing control

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Minhyun is confused af. Seongwoo is clueless, but he just has everyone's best interests at heart.

Minhyun stares at Seongwoo’s phone in confusion, reading the message from Jisung again. Then he rereads it for a third time.

 

**Jisung 5.22 pm**

You’re not getting your old stuff back if you go around telling people about what happens in my club!!!

 

His mind whirls as he tries to rationalise the new information coming to his brain. According to the message, Jisung has something that previously belonged to Seongwoo.

That part he gets.

He knows that Seongwoo is friends with Jisung from the corkboard of photos that hangs above his desk, plus what Sungwoon had said about meeting Seongwoo through Jisung.

What he _doesn’t_ get is the second half of the message. When Jisung says ‘club’, there’s only one club that he could be referring to, right? Unless he means a nightclub, which could _totally_ make sense too.

Seongwoo probably goes to nightclubs too, right? What was Jisung-sunbae’s job again? He swears he’s heard that it’s being a DJ.

And, well, if Jisung really did mean the other club… friends can tell each other about things, like things that they happen to be a leader of, right? If that’s the case, Seongwoo would definitely know about the other club, and of course, it doesn’t necessarily mean he’s _in_ it.

It’s Seongwoo. Why would _he_ be in it? There’s an explanation for everything.

Minhyun’s just trying to come up with the best one.

Letting out a shaky breath, he turns to face Seongwoo sleeping on the couch, then slowly puts down the phone.

_Seongwoo…_

Drawn to him, Minhyun kneels down beside the couch, watching how the other’s chest slowly rises and falls. His eyes travel up the line of his body, to his protruding Adam’s apple. And then it continues up the column of his neck, to his chin.

And then they slowly move upwards, to his slightly parted lips.

Minhyun stares at them for a few seconds, before reaching in his pocket for his chapstick. Uncapping it, he tentatively dabs some on Seongwoo. Memories play back in his head like a movie, and he recalls how he bit and tugged at them, and the way they had felt between his. So now that he’s putting on chapstick to soothe the swell, would Seongwoo happen to taste like strawberry if-

Minhyun finds himself millimetres from Seongwoo’s face, and then jumps back in horror.

_Fuck._

Scrambling to his feet, Minhyun hurries to his room to grab his dark blue coat and rushes to the door. He doesn’t dare turn back to look at Seongwoo as he leaves, sprinting down the corridor, and hurriedly mashing the down button at the elevator.

He _knew_ that there was something wrong with him, and now he’s just witnessed first hand how his mind wandered from trying to figure out Seongwoo’s affiliation with a supposed club, to just Seongwoo himself, and his-

Minhyun shakes his head frantically. There’s something trying to pull him back to his apartment like a magnet, like when he’s trying to read a book, but then suddenly gets an overwhelming urge to search Seongwoo’s name on Pann even though he had already done so minutes ago.

It’s not okay, it’s so not okay, and his brain hurts, and his breath comes out in short, shallow gasps. He can’t figure it out, and so he pulls out his phone to send Jihoon another panicked message, but then realises that the younger had already replied to the one he sent before.

 

**Jihoon 5.24 pm**

hyung take deep breaths

it’ll be alright, i’ll deal with seongwoo when i get home okay?

try to stay calm and eat some ice cream

lock yourself in your room if you have to

i’ll be home soon okay hyung?

 

**Minhyun 5.43 pm**

Okay.

 

As the elevator reaches the ground floor and dings open, Minhyun wonders if he should go back up. But there’s no way he can trust himself, _or_ what’ll he do.

Pushing open the foyer door, he steps out into the chill, and hurries away.

 

 

 

Seongwoo stares up at the unfamiliar ceiling.

The whole living room is shroud in darkness, save for slivers of artificial street light coming through the blinds. There’s a faint strawberry smell- a scent that reminds him of Minhyun, and Seongwoo squeezes his eyes shut to stop himself from smiling too wide.

_Minhyun doesn’t hate me._

“And he kissed me,” Seongwoo whispers.

He rolls over and pushes himself up, glancing around the empty apartment. As far as he can see there’s no sign of Minhyun anywhere, but instead he notices his discarded script lying on the ground of the kitchen, and he lets out a contented sigh when the memories of the kisses come drifting back.

His stomach grumbles, and he remembers the ignored pot of ramen that was on the coffee table. It’s no longer there, but instead he sees his phone, and reaches out to check the time.

 _7 P.M._ However, what captures his attention is a message from Jisung.

Suddenly there’s a rattling sound coming from the front door, and Seongwoo scrambles out of the sofa, landing on the floor with a dull _thud_ from excitement. He rushes to his feet, spreading his arms out wide, and half-jogs half-limps to the entry.

“Minhyun-ah!”

The door swings open, but instead of Minhyun, Jihoon’s standing there, with Daniel’s arm wrapped around his shoulder.

“Seongwoo?” Daniel drops his arm immediately, expression suddenly turned guilty.

Seongwoo raises his eyebrows, looking between the two of them questioningly. He knows that Daniel’s been badgering him to ask Minhyun about his new crush, but knowing how quickly his best friend falls in and out of love, he had been reluctant to set them up since he knows that they’ve only met once.

However, judging from how Jihoon’s cheeks are flushed a deep shade of red, Seongwoo makes the logical conclusion that Daniel somehow met him again while he was drunk. Daniel’s been pining over the younger for weeks now, but he never would’ve thought that he’d try and take advantage of him while the other was inebriated.

This is his boyfriend’s roommate that’s currently being lured, and as much as he’d like to uphold the bro code, he just can’t prioritise his best friend’s primal instincts. So he puts on his best pleading voice.

“Jihoon! Welcome home, I _really_ need to talk to you. In private. Without Daniel.”

The two standing outside the door exchange looks, and then Jihoon steps inside, waving Daniel off with the back of his hand.

“Oh, you’ll message me later r-”

The door swings to a close.

Jihoon walks to the kitchen, looking around, and then turns to face Seongwoo who’s followed him inside. “Minhyun-hyung isn’t here?”

Seongwoo smiles warmly at his acting department hoobae, and shakes his head. “Nope! I have no idea where he went either.”

But instead of the bright, innocent expression that Seongwoo expects, he receives a cold glare.

Jihoon walks over to the far wall, and peers inside one of the bedrooms with the door left slightly ajar. Seongwoo tilts his head in confusion as Jihoon seems to not find what he was looking for, and turns around with his hands on his hips.

“Minhyun-hyung is always at home, what did _you_ say to him?”

_Me?_

Seongwoo takes a uncertain step back.

“I thought that Minhyun-hyung was just confused when he said that he hated you, but I’ve figured it out, and it seems like Minhyun-hyung has too.”

The blood suddenly drains from Seongwoo’s face, and his hands go clammy. “Hated? I mean, I knew that he hated me, but I- I thought-”

“You thought that he would forget what happened with the theatre club right? Well apparently Minhyun-hyung never forgot, he just didn’t know it was _you._ ”

Jihoon stabs a finger onto Seongwoo’s chest.

“Why have you been keeping secrets from Minhyun-hyung? It’s obvious that there’s something you’re trying to hide.”

Seongwoo’s eyes shake, completely dumbstruck by the change of demeanour in the younger. If sweet Jihoon is _this_ mad, he must’ve done something really wrong.

_Jisung’s message._

His heart stutters as he connects the dots. Minhyun must’ve seen the message from Jisung and figured it out from there, especially since he’s top of the class and definitely smart enough.

There’s nothing worse, he knows, than hiding a side of himself. That’s what Minhyun had struggled with so many years ago, as they huddled together on the concrete steps in the back alley behind the auditorium. Minhyun would confide in him, or rather the fiery mask and passionate disposition of his theatre character, all of the secrets that only an anonymous person could hear.

_“I don’t get how you approach people so comfortably. My brain freezes up whenever someone tries to talk to me.”_

_“You’ve got to listen to your heart, Minhyun-ssi! Your mind isn’t the only thing that has control over your body.”_

Seongwoo tries to focus on something in the apartment, _anything_ , but his vision is blurry with tears. His voice shakes as he tries to steady himself, and he looks up at Jihoon whose expression is starting to morph into one of concern. “Can you please tell Minhyun I’m sorry? I’m sorry, I’m really sorry, for disappointing him.”

It’s been years, but Seongwoo still remembers the exact look on Minhyun’s face when he first approached him without the mask.

He doesn’t want a repeat of that. He’d waited so long until he was finally convinced that Minhyun forgot that encounter, before approaching him again.

So this time, how much longer does he need to disappear, until he forgets once more?

 

 

 

“Seriously? _That’s_ what I forgot?” Minhyun slaps a hand to his forehead, shaking it regretfully.

He paces up and down the corridor, in front of his apartment door.

“It’s okay. It’s fine. Seongwoo probably won’t even notice. I’ll just go in, act like everything is completely fine, and we’ll just carry on like normal. It’s okay, Minhyun.”

_Wait, what’s normal? Kissing?_

A blush comes to his cheeks as he recalls the feeling of Seongwoo’s tongue against his.

_No. No way. I can’t go in._

Minhyun closes his eyes, taking a deep breath, the plastic bag gripped tightly in his hand. _It’s okay_ , he reassures himself, closing his eyes and nodding his head. The chicken that he’s just bought is getting cold, so he should go in now, and it doesn’t matter that he forgot the cola. _Water goes fine with chicken._ _It’s okay._

He takes a deep breath, hand on the doorknob. There’s another reason why he’s so nervous, one that he’s been trying to ignore for the past half hour. Seongwoo was obviously part of the theatre club. It’s only logical, since his major is acting after all.

Normally he would steer clear of anything to do with the theatre club, but there’s something pulling him back. There’s something about Seongwoo that he realises he can’t just leave behind. Minhyun’s going to act first. He’s sure of it.

Then he re-evaluates everything again, and bangs his forehead against the door. He honestly can’t trust himself right now. He has no idea what he, or his lips, would do once he passes the threshold and sees Seongwoo again.

Suddenly he hears the sound of the door unlocking. Minhyun panics, frantically looking up and down the corridor, wishing that the apartment wasn’t smack-bang in the middle, with nowhere to hide.

So he presses himself against the wall, hoping that the door won’t swing open too hard and hit him in the face.

“Hyung, that’s you slamming your head against the door right?”

Minhyun pauses, because the muffled voice coming from inside is sounding a lot like Jihoon.

“Yes?”

The door slowly opens, and Jihoon peeks his head around the door. “Hyung.”

Minhyun lights up, the corners of his lips lifting at the sight of his dongsaeng, who he knows will make everything okay. “Jihoonie! You’re home!”

He leaps forward, wrapping Jihoon’s head in a big hug, but the other doesn’t retaliate, only standing there stiffly. He pulls back slightly, noticing how Jihoon’s eyes are downcast and his lips trembling. Minhyun’s never seen him like that before. “Hey, is something wrong?”

“Hyung.” Jihoon’s eyes are watering. “I think I messed up.”

 

 

 

**Daniel 8.43 pm**

Jihoon? :/

What happened?

 

**Jihoon 10.22 pm**

hey

where’s seongwoo hyung

 

**Daniel 10.23 pm**

I don’t know?

I thought he was still with you

 

**Jihoon 10.24 pm**

he left in a hurry

i think i made a mistake…

 

**Daniel 10.25 pm**

Oh…

I’ll call him

 

**Jihoon 10.27 pm**

no he left his phone here

minhyun hyung keeps messaging him

i don’t know what to do

 

**Daniel 10.29 pm**

Ah!

I think that’s him coming in now!

I’ll come over and get his phone tomorrow

Don’t worry okay? :)

I’ll talk to him and get him to call Minhyun

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 _It’s been so long,_ Minhyun thinks to himself. _It’s been so long since I’ve seen you in real life._

Minhyun can’t take his eyes off Seongwoo, as the other smiles back at him.

_How could you act like everything’s all okay, when it’s obvious that you’re in love?_

Seongwoo’s smile doesn’t change. “It’s okay, I don’t need love. It’s enough for me to see you happy.”

_What a lie._

Minhyun pauses the drama as Seongwoo embraces his character’s hoobae, Euntak. He looks down at the empty ice-cream container and sighs.

_The final episode bombs._

Pushing his laptop aside, he scrunches up the blankets layered on top of him, and throws them into a pile on the corner of his bed. Closing his eyes, he sluggishly rolls off.

Shuffling to the kitchen, he heads straight to the fridge but is disappointed to see that it’s lacking what he craves.

“Hyung, if you’re looking for ice-cream, we’re out of it. I’m not going to buy anymore.”

Minhyun pouts, closing the fridge door and turns to Jihoon who’s flipping pancakes on the stove. “But I’m not looking for ice-cream.”

Back facing him, Jihoon finishes up the rest of the pancakes, and lays them on a plate. “I know, hyung, you’re looking for Seongwoo.”

“I-” Minhyun tries to counter, but he can’t. “Well I’m not going to his apartment, if that’s what you’re trying to get me to do.”

Jihoon turns with his bottom lip sucked in, and avoiding eye contact, hands the plate of pancakes to Minhyun. “It’s been weeks, hyung. I’m not going to be plotting anymore.”

“Oh.”

Minhyun picks up the fork, resting his cheek on one hand, and drags it aimlessly through the pancakes. It’s been too long since he’s seen Seongwoo in person. The other has stopped going to Literature classes, and Minhyun doesn’t even know if he handed in his assignment.

Seongwoo hasn’t been replying to any of his messages as well, so he doesn’t know what to think. It would be like he dropped off the face of the Earth, if Messpatch wasn’t keeping him up to date with the rising actor.

Minhyun pulls out his phone, opening his bookmarks and taps on the Messpatch website. He scrolls past all the articles by habit, starting again from the first one posted.

‘RISING ACTOR GOES DARK.’

(Upon clicking the article, Minhyun had found out that Seongwoo went to Azaelea Hills and ordered black coffee, the paparazzi pictures capturing him with his face scrunched up and tongue sticking out.)

‘RISING ACTOR RIPS ENEMY A NEW ONE.’

(This time Minhyun had found out that Seongwoo was in the library trying to write something in his notebook, only to tear the pages out, the photos showing him with his head in his hands, balls of paper scattered around the desk.)

‘RISING ACTOR TAKES OUT THE TRASH.’

(Seongwoo was literally holding garbage bags. Minhyun would’ve been concerned that Messpatch somehow knew where Seongwoo lived, if he wasn’t too busy zooming into Seongwoo’s face, taking screenshots to crop out the background.)

As Minhyun scrolls back up to the top of the website, he realises that Messpatch had just posted a new article, dated a few seconds ago.

‘RISING ACTOR TURNS COLD.’

The photos show Seongwoo standing in front of a very familiar counter, talking to a very familiar uniformed boy, with a blurred out face.

_Jinyoung’s ice-cream shop._

Minhyun’s eyes widen, glancing at his empty ice-cream container, and he starts shoving pancakes in his mouth. He begins to make a mental list of things to do.

_Don’t wear the dark blue coat. Don’t wear any clothes that Seongwoo might have seen before. Wear a face mask. Wear a hood._

Jihoon makes a move to take Minhyun’s empty plate, but then Minhyun grabs his hand, staring at him with hyper-focused eyes and a slightly deranged smile. “I’m going out somewhere.”

Jihoon raises an eyebrow, and shakes off the other. “Okay…”

Minhyun leaps off the stool, runs to his bedroom to change and grab his things, and then sprints out the door.

It’s only a few minutes of running, before Minhyun reaches the entrance of the ice-cream shop with his heart feeling like it’s trying to escape out of his chest.

Breath shallow, he pulls down the hoodie that always looks oversized on Jihoon, but just fits him. He adjusts the hood and puts on the facemask, slightly bringing it down when he opens the door of the shop.

“Annyeo-”

Minhyun frantically puts his finger to his lips, motioning to Jinyoung to be quiet. Jinyoung nods with his eyes wide, and gestures over to the far corner of the shop.

It’s quite busy on a Saturday morning, with groups of people sitting around and chatting with their ice-creams. Minhyun notices the familiar shape of a person hidden at a booth by himself, ice-cream cone almost finished in his hand, absentmindedly staring at something on his phone. He isn’t dressed up at all, but Minhyun feels his breath catch and his heart skip a beat. Sliding onto a bench near the entrance, he brings out his own phone.

Through the zoomed in lens of his camera, Seongwoo looks as good as he remembers. But from this distance, it feels like he’s just looking at Messpatch photos again, so he stands up to move closer.

He’s halfway through the store, when a group of people suddenly get up and approach Seongwoo, blocking Minhyun’s view.

“Hi, Seongwoo-ssi! We’re fans of your character in the drama.”

Minhyun can’t see Seongwoo from here, but he frowns at their comment, and moves even closer to try and find a gap between the people.

_Why would you like the character, and not Seongwoo?_

He notices a space between the heads of two people. With his height, and the cover provided by the crowd, Minhyun might just be able to sneak in and-

“Minhyun-ah?”

Seongwoo looks up at him, his expression an odd mixture of conflicted surprise. The crowd slowly parts, and as Minhyun stares back, heart racing, only one thought comes to his mind.

_I like Seongwoo._

_I really, really like Seongwoo._

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> -peers around door like jihoon- hello :]
> 
> it's been 2 months since i've updated this, and i've written a buttload of other fics in between, so i hope that the writing style didn't change abruptly or something lol (the number of times where i had to force myself to write seongwoo instead of seongwu ;; )
> 
> but if you're reading this, thankyou for staying on board this fic!! and i reckon we're about 2/3-3/4 of the way through now. they're getting there!! 
> 
>  


	13. revelations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It’s been a month since Minhyun’s seen Seongwoo and, well... he's a little desperate  
> (it’s well thought-out, _sophisticated_ dumb)

Years ago, young and awkward Minhyun had opened his soon-to-be uni’s webpage feeling pretty determined. He knew that he loved reading books, and writing poetry. He knew that he woke up every morning with itchy fingers, wanting to jot down the words swimming in his head and the dreams still lingering from the night before.

So when it came to choosing his major, he naturally picked ‘Creative Writing’. There really wasn’t much thought to it, it was just an obvious and natural conclusion. If Minhyun puts in years of time and effort into something, it’s not often that he’ll pull a 180 and end up doing something totally different.

Minhyun is always determined. No matter what, he always sees things through to an end.

Or a beginning.

 

 

 

Minhyun stares at Seongwoo, the revelation causing a thousand memories to replay in his mind.

 _That’s_ why he always got this weird feeling of excitement whenever a new episode of Seongwoo’s drama came out.

 _That’s_ why he constantly had an urge to smooth down Seongwoo’s hair and maybe pet his head a little whenever he came stumbling in late and yawning for their 9am Literature class.

When Jihoon had confirmed that Seongwoo was once part of the theatre club, he tried to appear angry, but _that’s_ why he only felt concern when Seongwoo didn’t message him back.

_In the wake of an ephiany that’s shaken me with the force of an exploding star, light is found in the form of a thousand reincarnate hidden in Seongwoo’s eyes._

Minhyun feels poetic. He almost _never_ feels poetic about people.

Seongwoo looks like he’s about to say something, then starts blinking rapidly ( _and rather cutely_ , Minhyun thinks to himself), glancing at the small crowd who’s gathered around the booth. “I’m so sorry everyone, but I have to head off now, so let’s take one big group selfie and I’ll post it on my Instagram later. Is that alright?”

There’s a chorus of okay’s, and then some shuffling and bumping as Minhyun finds himself being pushed out of the crowd. It feels surreal seeing Seongwoo surrounded by people in the tiny booth, all smiling up at the phone in his hand. As if Seongwoo’s gone forward, but Minhyun hasn’t moved a centimetre.

“Sorry- it’s a bit hard to fit everyone in- uh-”

“Hey there, excuse me,” one of the people in the squished booth calls out to Minhyun. “Could you take a photo for us?”

Minhyun glances at Seongwoo, whose eyes have grown wide.

“N-no, there’s no need-”

“Sure, I’ll take one for you.”

Minhyun plasters on a smile and walks forward, holding his hand out expectedly towards Seongwoo’s phone. Seongwoo hesitates for a few seconds, then drops it in his palm. “Sorry for bothering you, Minhyun-ah.”

He tries to meet his eyes, but Seongwoo looks away immediately. “No, it’s okay Seongwoo, not at all.”

It’s already opened to the camera app, and it doesn’t take much time trying to find the right frame, Minhyun knowing that Seongwoo’s preferred angle is the mole side of his face from the numerous Instagram selfies he had saved to his own phone.

He snaps a couple, Seongwoo alternating from V-poses to finger hearts, making Minhyun’s heart go _dugeun-dugeun_ , and there’s a sudden overwhelming urge to flash one back.

He doesn’t though, and flashes the photo at the crowd instead, who squint to try and see themselves, and then they dissipate, leaving Minhyun and Seongwoo alone.

Seongwoo stands up. “Um, Minhyun-ah, could I have my phone?”

Minhyun looks down, the object feeling hot in his hand. “Oh…”

He wonders whether giving it to Seongwoo now would mean not seeing him again for another month. He still doesn’t understand why Seongwoo had left. Though he tried continuing his normal routine– waking up, eating breakfast, lying in bed with his laptop for a couple of hours scrolling through new Seongwoo fan accounts on Twitter, and going to class, there was something empty about it all. Like how after 9am in Literature, he’d look up eagerly every time the door opened, only to be disappointed when the person who entered wasn’t Seongwoo.

_Is it possible for the heart to be both full and empty at the same time?_

“Could we talk for a bit, Seongwoo?” Minhyun asks, gesturing at the booth. He knows what the other’s response will be from the way his face falls, so he slides into the chair. “Just for a few minutes.”

_Just so I can know._

Seongwoo bites his lip, and then shakes his head. “I’m sorry, but I really have to head off now. There’s a script reading session that I have to go to later.”

Minhyun raises an eyebrow in surprise _._ “You got the part?”

Seongwoo rubs his neck awkwardly. “Yeah, the vice-general who dies. I got it.”

Minhyun’s mouth opens. “You’re amazing.”

“Um, thanks.” Seongwoo holds out a hand, and Minhyun suppresses an urge to grab it. “Sorry, my phone…”

Minhyun swallows. Now Seongwoo’s here, he doesn’t want him to go just yet. An idea comes to mind, but he shakes it away. _No, Minhyun, you’re better than that. Just… let Seongwoo go._

So, reluctantly, he holds out the phone.

Seongwoo gives him a small smile.

_You really don’t want to be around me, do you._

It buzzes with a message.

Minhyun glances down, and the first thing he sees is Seongwoo’s wallpaper, a person with eyes curved and mouth wide open.

A photo of Minhyun laughing.

_Huh? (Do it.)_

Minhyun throws Seongwoo’s phone over the other’s shoulder.

“Oops.”

_Yes._

Seongwoo spins around, eyes wide, the phone clattering a few metres away amongst some tables and a couple of startled people.

“Minhyun! W-what–”

“Oh! I’m _so_ sorry, it must’ve slipped!”

Minhyun scrambles to his feet, brushing past Seongwoo, and leans down to pick up the phone. Seongwoo jogs up behind him a few seconds later, and they both stare at the screen, definitely shattered beyond use.

“Aw man, I needed the GPS to find the building for the script read this afternoon,” Seongwoo sighs, taking the phone and unsuccessfully trying to turn it back on. “Minhyun-ah, I’m supposed to be the one with the butterfingers.”

“This- wow!” Minhyun tries to hide his smile, putting one hand on his hip, and the other over his mouth. “That _really_ broke easily.”

Seongwoo lets out another dejected sigh.

“Look Seongwoo,” Minhyun begins, pulling out his own phone, his heart bubbling from excitement. He quickly sends a message to Jihoon, eager to put his feelings into words. “I’ll lend you my phone for today, okay? I don’t have class so I can go get your phone screen replaced, and then I’ll just come over tonight so that we can swap phones again.”

Seongwoo considers for a moment. “Okay,” he finally says. “I guess that could work.”

“My passcode’s 2508.” Minhyun pauses. “Uh, don’t look at my photos. Or my text messages.”

Seongwoo nods solemnly, still not looking into his eyes. “Sure.”

Minhyun tentatively takes Seongwoo’s free hand, pressing his phone into it, starting to feel a little bad judging from the expression on the other’s face. “Um, I’m really sorry, Seongwoo. I... don’t know what came over me.”

“No, Minhyun! I-” Seongwoo looks up, and Minhyun sees something flash briefly. _Regret? Fear?_ He looks back down. “I should hurry back and change. I’ll see you tonight, I guess.”

“Okay.” Minhyun reaches out to pat Seongwoo’s shoulder. He doesn’t know why he feels so surprised when the other doesn’t flinch.

 

 

 

**Minhyun 11.52 am**

jihpon i mde plan!!!!!

 

“So this is the message I received from Minhyun-hyung an hour ago.”

Everyone around the table groans.

There’s boxes of chicken scattered around Woojin and Guanlin’s dining table. Daehwi is holding up his phone, where a Facetiming Jinyoung shakes his head in disappointment. “It was awful. I really don’t know what goes through Minhyun-hyung’s head sometimes.”

“Well _somebody_ thought that sending a message to Seongwoo right at that moment would be perfect.” Jihoon turns to Daniel indignantly, who’s sitting next to him. “I can’t believe I found you standing outside when I _told_ you that we weren’t going to be plotting anymore.”

Daniel blinks at him innocently. “Then you’re saying that you weren’t there for Minhyun, but for me?”

Jihoon falters, a blush rising to his cheeks.

There’s silence.

Woojin coughs. “Okay. I’m going to be the brave one here and say something first, because I know we’re all scared of Jihoon, but did something happen between you guys?”

“No!”

“Yep.”

Jihoon elbows Daniel’s side _hard,_ trying not to think about how robust it is. After that awkward Uber ride back from the old auditorium, and right before he opened the door of his apartment to Seongwoo’s face, Jihoon did something that he’s been avoiding Daniel for a whole month because of.

He does _not_ what to think about it.

“ _No._ Nothing happened. And if anyone tries to bring it up,” Jihoon picks up a gnawed chicken bone. “Tomorrow, _this_ is what you’ll end up becoming.”

“Woah. Okay.” Woojin puts his hands up, and then attempts to whisper loudly from across the table. “Daniel, what did you do? Be careful man, he doesn’t joke around with these things.”

Daniel laughs. “I know he doesn’t. He really doesn’t joke around. _Really._ ” Daniel nudges him back, a lot softer, and a little bit more carefully than what Jihoon did to him, and Jihoon suddenly wishes that he didn’t call this meeting in the first place.

“Let’s get back to the agenda,” Jihoon says, putting his hands together in front of him, and leaning forward so that he can’t see Daniel in his peripherals. “I know I closed down the operation, but Minhyun-hyung’s been moping around for far too long. And seeing how Daniel’s just told us that Seongwoo-hyung’s wallpaper is a picture of Minhyun-hyung, it seems like he’s been moping around too.”

“But Seongwoo’s the one who never replied to Minhyun-hyung’s messages, plus he reacted so weirdly when you accused him of hurting Minhyun-hyung because of the theatre club,” Daehwi interjects matter-of-factly.

“Seongwoo-hyung is the nicest ever though!” Guanlin argues.

Daehwi rolls his eyes. “I know I’m the only one who doesn’t know Seongwoo personally, but food _doesn’t_ equal nice, Guanlin.”

“But he paid for our lunch last time,” Jinyoung offers helpfully.

“Okay fine,” Daehwi relents. “Seongwoo’s nice. Now what?”

Everyone turns to Jihoon, who only stares back.

_Now what?_

He had been adamant on letting Minhyun and Seongwoo figure out things themselves, realising that there’s only so much that he can intervene, before entering an area that he really has no right to.

Jihoon leans back in his chair, eyebrows furrowed. “I’m not sure, I think we should just observe what they do together first.”

Subconsciously, he glances over at Daniel, who offers a smile. “Yeah,” Jihoon continues, eyes still not leaving Daniel’s. “Things like love– they come naturally. I’m sure it’ll work out between them.”

Another silence.

“Um, there’s something _definitely_ going on.”

Jihoon shoots Woojin a glare, and is about to mouth something threateningly, when he feels something brush his leg. Looking over, Daniel raises an eyebrow.

“Hyungs,” Guanlin tentatively begins, “Either you two leave, or the rest of us leave, but this is my apartment, and there’s still chicken on the table, so I hope you two decide on the former.”

Jihoon’s pretty sure the heat on his face is a telltale sign, and that he can’t deny anything anymore, but before he can open his mouth to respond, Daniel does first.

“Honestly, I think Jihoon just called this meeting because he didn’t want to be alone with me, after we saw Seongwoo and Minhyun in the ice-cream store.” Jihoon’s face falls. “But if you guys insist, like _really_ insist, I guess we _have_ to leave.” Daniel lets out a dramatic sigh. “Jihoon’s _not_ going to be happy, but it seems like you’re really leaving us with no choice.”

Woojin stutters, eyes wide. “W-well, if Jihoon-”

Jihoon suddenly stands up, the chair making a loud noise against the timber floor, putting on the most annoyed expression he can, to try and pass off his red face as anger. “Hmph. I’ll see you all later then. At night.” He narrows his eyes. “Make sure to lock your windows.”

Jihoon stomps out, not looking back, and he can vaguely make out some panicked whispering, and Daniel’s, “I told you so.”

He makes sure to slam the door loudly on purpose, and then waits with bated breath in the corridor.

A minute later the door slowly opens.

“Jihoon?” Daniel whispers, poking his head out. “I got your bag and stuff.”

Daniel looks around, and then meets his eyes.

Jihoon pulls him by the arm from the entrance, and then closes the door as quietly as he can.

“Maybe we should-” Daniel begins, but then lets out a small gasp. Jihoon’s arms wrap around his neck, and then pull him down to meet his lips.

It’s rough but chaste at first, exactly like what had happened outside of Jihoon’s apartment a month ago, before he stopped as suddenly as he pushed forward.

However this time Jihoon doesn’t let go.

“F-fuck,” Daniel makes out, muffled against Jihoon’s lips.

Jihoon pulls back in concern, unwinding his arms from the other’s neck, but then he’s only met by a darkened gaze.

“Kiss me again,” Daniel breathes out, voice low and sultry.

He feels his heart stop.

There’s something almost primal in Daniel’s eyes, something that he wasn’t prepared for. He bites his lip nervously, and Daniel’s eyes flicker downwards.

The other exhales. “Sorry,” he says, stepping back and sliding down the wall, looking at somewhere on the floor until he’s sat on the ground. “That sounded a bit rude.”

Jihoon scoffs, and then crouches, putting one hand out to balance himself on the other side of Daniel’s legs. “If you’re rude, what does that make me?”

He puts one finger out, sliding his finger down the soft skin and sharp bone of Daniel’s jaw, to the underside of his chin, unsure whether he can hear the other’s breathing or not. As he tips Daniel’s head up, the other looks at him for a moment, and then his eyes flutter shut.

“Kiss me,” Daniel whispers.

Jihoon gulps.

And then he panics.

_Fuck. Why am I like this?_

Daniel opens his eyes again, tilting his head slightly, questioningly. His eyes search his, and then he leans forward, placing one hand on Jihoon’s cheek, the other comfortingly on his back.

“It’s alright,” he whispers, his breath hot against Jihoon’s lips. “I want it.”

Jihoon closes his eyes, and pushes forward.

 

 

 

“So,” Minhyun begins. “You’ve had a crush on him for _how_ long now?”

The photo of himself on Seongwoo’s phone laughs at him.

“Yeah, _real_ funny, you absolute fool.” Minhyun stops walking down the street to knock his forehead a couple of times with his fist.

He wraps his arms around himself, Jihoon’s hoodie a little too small, as the sun starts to disappear behind the buildings.

It had been a weird couple of hours, trying to come to terms with his crush. Minhyun kept thinking back over the past few months, trying to pinpoint exactly when hatred turned into something else. Even though Minhyun’s known, or known of Seongwoo since first year, he’s pretty sure this crush thing only started recently.

 _Well it_ had _to have, right?_

Minhyun looks at Seongwoo’s wallpaper again. He can recognise the light-coloured timber of Azalea Hills in the background, realising that the photo was taken during their very first date _(?)_.

_How long has Seongwoo had a crush on me?_

Thinking about it makes his chest tingle.

He remembers seeing his poem pinned on Seongwoo’s cork board, the one from last year.

_Was that when he started liking me? It’s been so long since then._

_How is it possible to like someone for that long?_

Suddenly, the phone begins to vibrate. As he looks at the contact name of the person calling, Minhyun’s heart jolts painfully, like he’s just been electrocuted:

 

**_my fox nyeonie <3 <3 <3_ **

 

His eyebrows furrow, wondering who in the world deserves so many hearts, and wonders if he should pick it up.

Thumb hovering over the accept button, he contemplates for a moment too long, and the call ends.

Minhyun sighs a little in relief, continuing the walk back to his apartment to get a thicker jacket before heading over to Seongwoo’s.

He’s only walked a few metres, before Seongwoo’s phone vibrates again, but only once with a message.

 

**_my fox nyeonie <3 <3 <3 6.45 pm_ **

Is it cold?

You should probably get changed before coming over.

 

Minhyun’s stomach drops.

_Has Seongwoo moved on? Is that why he wouldn’t look at me at the ice-cream store?_

_He has other plans for tonight. Not just with me._

Minhyun suddenly feels like the distance between them has grown uncontrollably further.

Jogging the rest of the way back, vision blurring and chest feeling tight, Minhyun is unsure whether his shaky breathing is because of the jog, or something else entirely.

As he reaches his front door, he leans his forearm and forehead against the coolness, trying to steady his breaths.

_Jihoon’s got to be inside, right?_

His fingers itch, but when he turns on the phone, he’s only greeted by the same message.

_Fuck._

_Help._

Fingers fumbling with the key, it takes more than a few tries before he successfully jabs it into the lock and opens the door.

The apartment is dark.

Minhyun hears himself let out a sob.

He steps quietly inside, taking off his shoes, and drags his feet slowly over to the couch, before falling into it with a sigh.

Minhyun sits there for a few moments, lost in his thoughts.

Then he hears a soft pattering sound on the balcony window.

Slowly looking up, he realises that someone’s standing there.

He blinks once in alarm.  

The pattering sound continues, and Minhyun keeps blinking.

“Minhyun-ah,” he hears, softly and muted.

Minhyun slowly stands up, making his way over to the window, heart pounding.

When he gets closer, the outside streetlight reveals the full front of the silhouette, and his face falls.

_Kitsune-nim?_

Standing there, wearing a Japanese fox mask, is the person who disappeared from his life years ago.

Minhyun unlocks the door.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> you've got to admit that i'm pretty good at cliffhangers
> 
> anyway ahhhhh nielwink ahhhhhh it was lowkey but then it suddenly became highkey :)  
> and hang in there with the onghwang angst(?)! things will be explained soon! hang in there! 
> 
> i hope you guys have a great weekend! <3 
> 
> (ps. yes **my fox nyeonie <3 <3 <3** is actually seongwoo trying to contact minhyun from minhyun's phone sighs)


	14. and then, the unknown

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jihoon and Daniel finally find out what happened in the theatre club, and Minhyun and Kitsune-nim work through some things.
> 
> It's been three years though... so why does he seem so... familiar?

**Daniel 7.00 pm**

hey

seongwoo

seongwoo hyung

hyung

are you coming home soon

 

**Daniel 7.00 pm**

Sorry if this is Minhyun hyung :(

But if Seongwoo still has this phone, hyung, will you be coming home soon :) ?

Sorry :(

Minhyun hyung?

Seongwoo hyung?

 

“They’re both not answering,” Daniel sighs, putting his phone down on the kitchen bench. “Maybe the ice cream shop was too noisy, maybe Jinyoung heard wrong?”

Jihoon looks up from his seat at the bench, trying to think if that was possible. Neither Minhyun or Seongwoo are exactly soft-spoken people, but at the same time Jinyoung _was_ all the way behind the counter. Nevertheless…

“With all those photos you’ve been uploading to Messpatch, Minhyun-hyung’s been thinking about Seongwoo all the time,” Jihoon reasons. “So it makes sense to meet up here to get his phone back. I don’t think Jinyoung was wrong about that.”

Daniel shrugs. “Then maybe something else happened in between and they decided to meet somewhere else?”

“That’s– yeah, maybe.” Jihoon deflates. “That could’ve happened too. Daniel… if only we could talk with Seongwoo beforehand, clear up anything to do with Minhyun first. If only we knew what he was thinking.”

“Hey, it’s okay.” Daniel ambles around the kitchen bench, and then plops his chin gently on Jihoon’s shoulder. “Heh.” The soft exhale of his laugh when he realises that the younger isn’t making any moves to push him off tickles Jihoon’s ear slightly. “I’m sure they’ll figure it out. You said Minhyun-hyung wasn’t the type to give up easily.”

“Yeah,” Jihoon sighs despondently. Suddenly he lifts his head up. “Yeah. That’s actually right. You’re right. Thanks,” he turns to meet Daniel’s eyes. “I just– usually, I know what’s going on.”

Maybe this is all getting to him because Jihoon had supposedly figured out the two’s relationship before. The very first time Minhyun accidentally mentioned Seongwoo, Jihoon caught a whiff, a tiny bit of suspicion that something was going on. Some poor, random dancer at Woojin’s dance club showcase was the unwarranted target of Minhyun’s whispered heckling, and later Jihoon realised that Minhyun was a _little_ more invested in anything to do with this Ong Seongwoo guy than anything else. After a bit of probing, he realised that it wasn’t just interest, it was more of an intense, unrealised crush.

But now things have changed. His understanding of Seongwoo himself– Jihoon did have that one group assignment with him last year, but all he figured out was that the guy was really good at acting. Minhyun reads like an open book most of the time, but Seongwoo…

Daniel’s eyes seem to twinkle, and then suddenly Jihoon feels a knock on his cheek, the crown of Daniel’s head making impact. Daniel grins when Jihoon’s nose scrunches up and his lips purse.

“Did you just headbutt me?”

“ _Usually_ you know what’s going on, and what’s about to happen. And usually you ask me to follow Seongwoo-hyung, and report to you everything I see. But maybe you already know that right now, it’s not the best way?”

Jihoon furrows his brow. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, I’ve never been right here next to you while you’re orchestrating your plans,” Daniel explains. “But now I am. I’m not hiding behind a menu in a restaurant, or in a bush with my camera phone, I’m right here. So, _usually_ you know what’s going on, but…”

“Yeah?” Jihoon’s expression softens. He really does like having Daniel here. Daniel with his optimism, and his comforting words, and his soft hair… Daniel’s voice becomes breathier, his eyes flicker down.

“... but, maybe I’m here because you realised that it’s not any use if I’m out there. Or– or maybe I’m here because…” Jihoon notices his Adam’s apple bob. “because–”

_Bzz bzz. Bzz bzz._

Daniel freezes. “Is that Seongwoo-hyung?”

Jihoon feels himself snap out of it, and he reaches forward to hide the heat in his face. “Hey? It says Jisung.”

“Oh. Weird. Why is Jisung-hyung calling me? He’s been ignoring me, I thought he was still mad about that time we tricked him.”

Jihoon coughs. “I thought so too. Answer it.”

Daniel picks up the phone, finger hovering over the screen, and then looks at Jihoon. “Just to make sure, we’re dating now, right?”

Jihoon feels his cheeks flood with heat. “Ah. Yep.”

“Okay!” Daniel break out into the brightest expression, one so warm it reminds Jihoon of the sudden light that envelops his bedroom whilst drawing the curtains in the morning, and then enthusiastically taps on the speaker. “Helloooo?”

“YA! KANG DANIEL! WHERE IS ONG SEONGWOO. WHAT IS HE UP TO?! PUT HIM ON THE PHONE. NOW!”

Jihoon jumps slightly at Jisung’s raised voice, and Daniel looks up in confusion. “Hyung?”

“HE’S WITH YOU, ISN’T HE? I CAN’T REACH SUNGWOON EITHER. WHAT’S GOING ON? WHAT ARE YOU ALL UP TO?!”

“Woah, Jisung-hyung, slow down, I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“NO IDEA? YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT I’M TALKING AB–” a pause. “You have no idea what I’m talking about?”

Jihoon mouths _wait_.

“No,” Jihoon interjects. “Daniel’s with me– I’m Park Jihoon– and we’re very much in the dark about everything as well.”

“Oh. Oh, then… so you don’t know where Ong Seongwoo or Ha Sungwoon are?”

“No,” Jihoon replies firmly. “What’s going on?”

There’s silence on the other end for a while. Then Jisung finally speaks. “You already knew that Seongwoo was in the theatre club, right?”

“Right,” Jihoon confirms, making sure not to mention that it was all thanks to Jisung.

“Well… I’m looking for him because I think he took something relating to the theatre club from me.”

Jihoon frowns. “What is that?”

“A costume. He’s been asking me about it for weeks.”

“A costume,” Jihoon repeats. He tries to rationalise what he’s hearing. Seongwoo, and a theatre club costume, and somehow they’re linked to Minhyun’s old roommate? “And… what was that about Ha Sungwoon?”

“He’s the only one in the theatre club who won’t reply to my messages. I know he and Seongwoo were friends back then, so I’m suspecting he was the one who helped him unlock the storage.”

“Oh?” Jihoon’s eyes widen, and he sees Daniel’s hand fly to his mouth to stop himself from gasping in surprise. A plan forms in his mind. “Oh. Jisung, we can help you get that costume back.”

“Really? So you _do_ know where Ong Seongwoo is?”

Jihoon glances at Daniel. “In exchange, you have to explain everything that happened between Seongwoo and Minhyun back in their first year.”

“Right,” Jisung agrees. “Right, you still don’t know what went on. Well, it all started when Seongwoo was still new to acting, and had some things to iron out about his portrayal of the fox. That was the character he was assigned to– if you actually joined the theatre club like you promised you would know. Anyway, Sungwoon said he knew the perfect person who looked exactly like a fox…”

 

 

 

It feels almost effortless, and the door slides open easily.

“Kitsune-nim.” Minhyun furrows his brow. “What are you doing here?”

The sun has now fully set, the ensuing darkness bringing with it a cold breeze that causes a chill to run through Minhyun’s body. The man in a Japanese fox mask and dark blue yukata stands before him, his hands brought hesitantly together. Even though Kitsune-nim is someone he used to see many times before, there’s something that feels almost unrecognisable, drawn from the faded edges of a memory. It’s been far too long since they’ve actually seen each other— years really— and Minhyun’s confused, and maybe his heart is pounding, and _fuck—_ why did he even open the door—

“I thought it was only right to see you, Minhyun-ah,” Kitsune-nim says slowly, carefully. His voice is what seems the most familiar, and he has no idea why. “One last time.”

“One last… huh?” Minhyun shakes his head, baffled. “I thought we already had a last time. Years ago. You know, when we were still friends, or when we were _supposed_ to be—” he lets out a harsh breath, tries to will his hysterics down. “That doesn’t answer why you’re here.”

“Well…” Kitsune-nim’s voice is hesitant. “You were always the one who found me after those performances at the theatre club. I thought that I should– I should’ve found you first.”

Minhyun licks his lips. His eyes wander. “Maybe. Maybe you should’ve. But I don’t think it’s fair that you’re here _now_ though.”

“Ah, but– Minhyun, I thought you wanted to see me. That’s why I’m here.”

He closes his eyes. Recalls those times he spent talking to Kitsune-nim, outside the rear entrance of the old theatre at the other side of the city, back when he didn’t have friends, back when friends just seemed unnecessary. But that was– that was _ages_ ago. “A long time ago, years ago, I told you we should meet again. That was after your last performance as Kitsune-nim right? I said we should meet again, without– without _that_.” Minhyun opens his eyes and then sighs. “But right after, you disappeared.”

Kitsune-nim seems to stare at him for a moment, and then his hand slowly comes up to his mask. And then back down. “Without that… this mask? Wait. Minhyun-ah, you don’t know who I am?”

“No? If I did, it wouldn’t be, what, _three years_ since we’ve seen each other?”

“Three years? But it’s only been… right.” Kitsune-nim breathes out, long and drawn, like he’d just realised something. “I think I’m going to go. This was a bad idea.”

A bad idea. Minhyun stops himself from scoffing.

“Okay. I don’t think this was a good idea either.” Minhyun takes his hand off the door and steps sideways to let Kitsune-nim pass. “You obviously didn’t think this through.”

“Maybe I did too much thinking,” Kitsune-nim says offhandedly.

“Perhaps.”

Minhyun watches as Kitsune-nim makes his way over to the front door. It’s not that he’s not curious– sure, knowing someone as well as he had known Kitsune-nim– being the same age as him, knowing he majors in acting, in first year at least, that he was as uncertain about his choices as Minhyun was– the only difference being Minhyun hadn’t wanted to admit. It never mattered with Kitsune-nim, the one thing he _was_ certain about was that he would always get to where he wanted to go.

Minhyun wonders if he ever got a role in a historical drama like he had always wanted.

He wonders whether he should tell Kitsune-nim that he got published in the annual university Literature magazine like he used to dream.

“Wait.” Minhyun reaches out a hand. “Kitsune-nim, wait.”

The other pauses.

“I realised I was being a bit harsh. How are you? Are you doing okay?”

For a moment, Minhyun worries that Kitsune-nim will just keep walking, not look back– his retreating into the darkness of night a silhouette he had grown so used to.

But Kitsune-nim turns.

“You don’t have to worry about me Minhyun. I’ll be fine.”

“There’s something up, isn’t there? You didn’t just turn up on my balcony for no reason.” For a moment he forgets that he’s high on the second floor.

“No… well,” Kitsune-nim’s hands come together again, his fingers locking and unlocking nervously. “It’s something I need to deal with alone. Like you said before, it’s not fair that I’m here.”

“But–” Minhyun takes a step forward. “You can talk to me. Like we used to in first year. You say one thing that’s bothering you. I say one thing that’s bothering me. Then it’ll be fair.”

Kitsune-nim hesitates. Then he sighs, and sits on the couch. “Okay. One thing that’s bothering me. Um.” Kitsune-nim glances up. “You looking at me in that way.”

“What do you mean?” Minhyun moves over to sit next to him. “That doesn’t even make sense. You haven’t seen me in years, so how can that be what’s bothering you?”

Kitsune-nim shrugs. “It’s your turn now.”

Minhyun presses his lips together. Thoughts run through his mind like a blur. “Well, there’s not just one. There’s a lot.”

“Then what’s the biggest one? The biggest thing that’s bothering you?”

“Hmm, well… probably my boyfriend? I don’t know.”

Kitsune-nim seems to stiffen, doesn’t say anything back.

“Yeah it’s weird,” Minhyun laughs awkwardly. “I used to complain about Sungwoon-hyung tricking me into another blind date, that life would be much better if we didn’t have to deal with all that or what not. But like… I started crushing on someone. I don’t know when it started, it just happened. Then we went out for a bit. But now things are weird.”

“Oh…”

“I think I was the one who made it weird. I wasn’t exactly very nice to him.”

“Ah…”

Minhyun grimaces. “I’m making things weird now, aren’t I?”

“No! No.” Kitsune-nim lifts a hand up, then seems to rethink and sets it back down. “Your boyfriend. What is he like? What do you like about him?”

“Him?” Minhyun can’t help but let a laugh escape. “It’s stupid.”

“I’m telling you,” Kitsune-nim waves a hand. “I’ve been even more stupid.”

“Well,” Minhyun begins. “He’s probably the most incompetent person I’ve ever met in my life. He annoys me, I don’t understand him. He doesn’t follow what’s expected, he just does whatever, really.”

“That sounds… like the perfect guy?”

Minhyun looks down and smiles to himself. “Yeah. But that’s also what I really like about him. It makes him interesting. And he’s also really ho– he’s nice to look at.”

Kitsune-nim laughs. “I’m sure you two make a very good looking couple.”

“Well are you still majoring in acting? You might know him. Ong Seongwoo.” The name slips easily from his mouth. Perhaps a few months ago he would’ve felt embarrassed to even say those few words, but now he feels kind of proud. Ong Seongwoo, the star of the acting department. Ong Seongwoo, the popular guy, that everyone has pretty much heard about. Even now he’s sure that asking Kitsune-nim whether he knows him is redundant. “Yeah, he’s– oh.” Minhyun’s heart drops when he remembers why he came back to the apartment in the first place.

“Yeah I know him!” Kitsune-nim enthusiastically replies. Then he notices Minhyun’s expression. “Is something the matter?”

“No it’s just… you say you know him?” Minhyun feels his eyes prickle. “Do you know if he’s seeing anyone else?”

“What?”

“Look, I have his phone,” Minhyun pulls Seongwoo’s phone out from his pocket. “He got these text messages, and–”

 

**Daniel 7.00 pm**

hey

seongwoo

seongwoo hyung

hyung

are you coming home soon

 

“– oh. He’s not even at his apartment and I was meant to meet him there–”

“Minhyun-ah–”

“– so what was I expecting? That he’d just be totally fine with everything when _I_ was the one being strange–”

“Minhyun-ah–”

“– and now who’s the one being sad by himself, when _he’s_ out having f–”

“Minhyun-ah.” Kitsune-nim places a hand on his arm. “I know Ong Seongwoo, just a little, and I’m sure he feels super lucky to have a boyfriend like you.”

Minhyun chews on his bottom lip. “You think?”

“Well, what text messages are you talking about, can I see?”

Minhyun hesitates. It’s not that he doesn’t trust Kitsune-nim. Things have been oddly familiar, and he feels oddly comfortable with him, which was exactly like their relationship back in first year, except now they’re fourth years and things are a lot different. It’s just that… Seongwoo means a lot to him. And if he really _has_ been seeing someone else, he’s not sure if he’s ready for everything to come crashing down.

“Ah. Yeah, sure.”

Minhyun hands the phone over and Kitsune-nim quietly scrolls through the notifications. Then he snorts.

“Wait, Minhyun-ah, you mean _these_? These ones from Nyeonie?”

“Yeah?” Minhyun sticks out his bottom lip. “And did you see the hearts? The hearts right next to the name?”

“Yeah, but– Nyeonie. Doesn’t that sound familiar?”

Minhyun stares at Kitsune-nim in confusion. “No?”

“Min–” Kitsune-nim makes an airy gesture with his hands.

“–hyun?” Minhyun finishes with conviction.

Kitsune-nim laughs. “Minhyun-ah, you’re actually– I can’t believe I’ve just realised, but you’re actually– you’re a tiny bit dumb.”

Minhyun gasps. “No, just because I don’t know _one_ thing–”

“Look, I’ll show you,” Kitsune-nim gently interrupts. “See, this is the message Nyeonie sent.” Kitsune-nim swipes right on the message, the passcode screen appears, and he puts his thumb on the home button and the phone unlocks. “When you scroll up, look at the other messages. You see here, it says Minhyun!”

Minhyun squints. It does say _Minhyun!_ in one of the text messages, but that’s not why Minhyun’s squinting. Minhyun’s squinting because…

“How did you unlock Seongwoo’s phone?”

_… Seongwoo?_

 

 

 

“– then on the last night Seongwoo was scheduled to act as the fox– you wouldn’t know, but we have this rotational system for the characters so that everyone has a chance to try at least two a year– that’s when I caught them.” Jisung pauses. And then he sighs. “You’re not meant to tell people outside the theatre club your identity, but I could tell that they were already really close.”

“So… what?” Jihoon probes. He looks up at Daniel, who’s staring down at the phone with a kind of distraught expression and his chin resting in his hand. “Did you force Seongwoo to stop seeing Minhyun-hyung? Did you tell him to disappear or else, and that’s why Minhyun-hyung’s been hating Seongwoo, because he reminds him of Kitsune?”

“What? No! I’m not that overbearing.” Jisung scoffs. “I told him that it was okay to tell Minhyun who he really was, but then he wouldn’t be able to continue with his theatre club performances because that would ruin its integrity. And obviously, he chose Minhyun.”

Jihoon tilts his head. “He chose Minhyun-hyung? But Minhyun-hyung doesn’t even know?”

“Well I’m not sure what he did, but that’s what I assumed happened because Seongwoo stopped showing up at the theatre club afterwards. Anyway, that’s all I know, so are you going to tell me now? Where Seongwoo is?”

“Yeah, we’ll,” Jihoon’s mind whirls. “We’ll find that costume for you.” He presses _end call_.

“Jihoon, I’m confused,” Daniel says right after.

“I’m not too sure too,” Jihoon answers.

“You said Minhyun-hyung didn’t know Seongwoo-hyung was in the theatre club. But did Seongwoo-hyung tell him or not?”

“I guess he didn’t. Or maybe he did... maybe he tried to. I guess we know what happened now though.”

“Yeah.” Daniel fumbles sadly with the sleeve of his hoodie. “Seongwoo-hyung is my best friend and I didn’t even know that happened to him. He probably felt guilty this whole time, that he was friends with Minhyun-hyung but in the end he couldn’t say who he really was.”

“Yeah,” Jihoon sighs. “I didn’t even know Minhyun-hyung had any friends before I moved in.”

They sit in silence for a while.

“We should probably find Seongwoo-hyung to get the costume back for Jisung-hyung,” Daniel finally says.

“Yep, I’ll message the group chat.”

 

 ****

**Jihoon 7.32 pm**

who’s seen seongwoo hyung or minhyun hyung

 

**Guanlin 7.33 pm**

:(

 

**Daehwi 7.33 pm**

:/

 

**Jihoon 7.34 pm**

what

 

**Woojin 7.34 pm**

so we uh

we saw you two in the hallway

that was… intense

but high 5 daniel hyung

 

**Daniel 7.34 pm**

:D

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thankyou apple for thumbprint recognition *w*
> 
> it's been a super long time, so so so long, and if you're reading this thankyou for doing so!! :) the next chapter won't be for a while (not until my uni term ends in about a month), but things are wrapping up so if there's anything i've forgotten please remind me that would be super cool!! <3 
> 
> also if you could support nuest's comeback on the 29 april and seongwu and jihoon's respective dramas airing later this year (as well as trusting daniel in whatever he chooses to do), that would be the bomb. it's always sad when things come to an end, but what's exciting is that it means new things always happen and the possibilities are endless. 
> 
> i hope you're all doing well! have an awesome week <3


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